Where do we go from here?
by cordelia.lineson
Summary: Hi there, it's my first fan fiction, and I hope you like it. It's a story based on TV show The 100, but with new characters and new settings. A few hundreds of people hide in the government bunker to survive the bombs. They were to wake up after 20 years, but due to a misfunction in the cryo-sleep machines, they wake up 141 years later, to find the world completely different...
1. The bombs

Chapter One (year 2061)

The bombs

I sat on the bench and closed my eyes. My face was placed towards the sun, I could feel its warmth on my cheeks. I breathed in deeply. Then I breathed out, and then in again, deeply. I repeated that a few times, but then I heard footsteps. I knew it was Steve approaching me. He stood in front of me, blocking the sun, and leaned over. He placed his lips on mine, and kissed me. When we were done kissing, I smiled and opened my eyes. "Hey, you," I said. He sat next to me on the bench. "What were you doing? Mediating?" he asked.

"I was just enjoying the sun and the fresh air. You know, the air is much different under the ground," I answered.

"So it's true, isn't it? There really is a bunker?"

"I told you a million times already, Steve," I answered impatiently. The bombs may fall at any moment now. My dad, and other presidents of the states belonging previously to United States of America, have been preparing the bunker since the first bombs were thrown down on Africa by Russia. Everybody knew there was nobody left alive on this continent, as well as in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. What's left of the world is North America, Europe and China. None of us knew anything about South America, but I assumed they were gone, as well. Now all of the sides were in possession of nuclear bombs. It scared me as nothing else had ever scared me before. Not even when I heard about destruction of Africa back when I was ten years old.

"The bunker is gigantic," I continued. "It spreads under Washington and the terrain of Virginia. It has four levels. The deepest is out of bounds for me, but I saw the first three. We are going to sleep on the first level, and the second is for food and all the art and books we could have gathered."

"How many people will be there?"

"Hundreds," I answered. "I could sneak you in," I added. Steve shook his head.

"You could save more. So many more. Instead, you decided to have secret level, and store books and paintings? Instead of human lives?" Steve asked.

"You don't understand. We have to preserve what humanity accomplished. We have clothes and paints, and computers. And we can't have too many people knowing about this. This will cause anarchy. Steve," I stopped and took him by his hand. He wouldn't look at me, so I took his head in my hands and forced him to look me in the eye. "You can't tell anybody about this. Promise me. Okay? Nobody can know," I said. Steve shook his head in disbelief.

"I promise," he answered. I signed with relief.

"So, you believe me now?" I asked. "That there is a bunker and that the bombs are going to fall?"

"I think I believed you about the bunker, I was just teasing you," he said. "And the bombs… there are rumors. All around, at work, at school. On the streets. People are scared, Em. Everybody's talking about the end of the world. So, I guess, your parents are right after all. The end of the world is… a vivid possibility."

I let out a silent moan. I didn't realize up to this point that I myself lived in denial about the bombs. If even Steve believed it, Steve who was always criticizing every theory my father had, and dismissing it all as "bullshit," "propaganda" or "conspiracy theory." And now he believed it was real. Somehow this made it real for me.

"Okay," I said. I tried to keep my voice steady, and even snuck a smile in there. "Let's go see it," I added. I stood up, Steve did the same. He snuck a little kiss, took my hand and we went to see the bunker, where I was going to sleep for the next 20 years, waiting for the bombs to fall and for the radiation to subside. Then… who knows what would happen then.

"Dad, please. Please. Don't throw him out. He's going to die out there. Please."

"What do you think this will look like? I will give up one bed for a cat? I will save a cat's life rather than a human being?" my dad asked me. I was sitting on a bench of a capsule that was going to be my bed for the next 20 years. When the first bombs fell this morning, I took my already packed backpack, and a very stressed and unsatisfied Fluffy, and ran to the car, as I had been instructed by my dad over and over again for the past weeks. " _It's began,"_ I texted Steve when I was in the car, waiting for my dad " _Go into that bunker. Now!"_

Fluffy wasn't too happy about being locked in the car. He was going around checking all the seats, and then trying to escape through the windows. I put out a syringe, prepared for this moment, and caught my cat by the tail, just as he was checking the steering-wheel with his paw. He wasn't happy about my grabbing his tail, so he thanked me by scratching my hand. I didn't let go of him. I took him in my arms, and put the syringe in his body. He left three more scratches on my hands and arms, but I managed to sedate him. Then I put him in my backpack. I knew my dad wouldn't never agree to a cat in the bunker, so I had prepared this plan long before. When inside, maybe he would be too afraid to open the bunker, or maybe I would manage to hide the cat long enough. Then, I would convince my parents it was a great idea to put Fluffy-cake in the bed with me.

Now I was sitting on the bed and swinging back and forth, with a still asleep cat in my lap. I was crying so hard, my words were barely recognizable. "Please, dad, please just put him in with me," I managed to say between sobs. I wasn't crying for Fluffy, not only for him, anyway. I was crying for the world that was in ruins above us, for the shaking Earth, for all the humans and animals alike, who were being murdered right at this moment. Hundreds of people were already asleep around me, but we were waiting for my mother, who got caught up at the hospital. Only a few people were still awake. These were the presidents and chancellors of the states, guards, engineers and computer geniuses, as I called them. Steve was not any of those, and my parents didn't approve of my relationship with him, so he wasn't allowed in the bunker. Like another billion people.

I started shaking and stroking my cat even harder. This was the only thing that kept me from going insane, the stroke of my cat. My dad probably realized that, too, for at last he allowed me to go to sleep with Fluffy on the side of me. "Thank you," I managed to say, but I kept on crying.

"Emilia, you need to go to sleep, now!" my dad said.

"What about mom?" I asked. "I can't go without mom!"

"You have to," he answered. Just get inside that capsule, and close your eyes. We'll set this for you.

An engineer approached us, and my dad nodded his head at him. "She's ready," he said to the engineer. _No, I'm not,_ I wanted to scream, but I just swallowed and kept on swinging back and forth. "Please, lie down," my dad said, stroking my head. "I'll see you in 20 years." I took a deep breath and nodded my head. Neither my mom, nor Steve were in the bunker. I had to believe they would come. I didn't have another choice.

I lay on the bed, and felt my cat being placed next to me, by the hips on the right side. I closed my eyes.


	2. The Awakening

Chapter Two (2202 year – 141 years later)

Awakening

First thing I felt upon waking up was my cat scratching and biting my legs and hands. I got up and pushed him out of the way. He didn't attack me again, but just looked at me, as if he wanted to tell me something important. Then, I felt it, too. This must have been what woke Fluffy. The air was heavy, and getting heavier by every breath I took. I pressed the button that was behind me, on the wall of the cabin. The bed started moving, but stopped when only half of my legs were out. The edge of the opening stopped at my knees, and the opening itself didn't go up. I pressed the button again, panicked. I felt the air coming in, but that wouldn't help me when I got thirsty or hungry. Nothing happened, except for my cat running out of the cabin. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I kept on muttering, as I pressed the button over and over again. The opening of the machine moved up a little bit, and the bed went forward further, but I wasn't quite sure I could make it outside. I closed my eyes and took a few more deep breaths. Then, I opened them and looked around me. Everybody else was still asleep, at least everyone close to me. The machine, the capsules that kept us inside for all this time, were transparent, made of unbreakable glass. The bottom and roof were white, though. All the capsules were connected to each other, and then to the main generators. We had a space for 800 people, as I looked around I saw that all of the cabins nearby me were filled. I saw my dad next to me, but I couldn't see if my mom was next to him, as she was supposed to.

I took another deep breath and decided I was ready to try again. I hit the button, but nothing happened, I hit again and again. The capsule moved a little more, now it was almost at my stomach, and the opening went a centimeter further. I could easily slide down at this point, so I did it. Fluffy was standing on the top of my dad's capsule. I went to the side of my dad's machine, and pressed the button that was there. Thankfully, it worked better than mine, and opened within seconds. My dad woke up, choking, just as his bed was getting to the end.

"Dad!" I explained and flung my arms around him "It's so good to see you!"

"Emily, something is wrong. I was choking, were you choking?"

"What?"

"Emilia," he called out. He was only using this form of my name when he was angry or upset, either at me, or in general. "Something is wrong. I need to get to the main generator!"

He let me go and run towards the main computer, to which all of the capsules were connected. I went to the bed next to him, to wake the person sleeping there, but it wasn't my mom. I pressed the button, and the capsule started opening. I went to the next bed, and did the same. I opened another five capsules, with people inside that I didn't know, and then all of them started opening at the same time. All people coming out of the capsules were coughing, and wheezing. I looked around me in disbelief. I waited for my heart to calm down, and for the well-known "doctor-mode," as Steve called it, but it didn't want to come. The thought of Steve made it worse. I was surrounded by choking, disoriented people, and I had no idea what to do.

"Please help me," someone next to me said, grabbing my hand. I turned to face the voice. It was a girl, standing by the middle-aged woman, who had turned pale, and didn't open her eyes. I took the woman's wrist and felt for a pulse. I was glad I had something to do. In a split second the calmness came back to me. I knew what I had to do. I had to look for unconscious people who were still alive, and try to revive them. Grief and answers will come later. I started doing artificial respiration to the woman , whose pulse I felt. It didn't work, so I started on her heart. Ten times, and then a breath to her mouth, and again, and again. At the third time, the woman wheezed and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes.

"You okay?" I asked her?

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to stand up.

"Mom!" the girl, who has asked me for help, exclaimed and hugged her.

"Don't," I said to the girl. "Let her breath and rest," I added. The girl let go of her mom and thanked me.

"I'm Molly," she said. "What's your name?"

"Emily," I said, but I was already on my way. I saw another woman who was lying unconscious, and a few people on the beds next to her. Other people were starting to wander around.

"Anyone who knows how to do artificial respiration, please try to do it now!" I heard a strong voice, that I thought I recognized. It was coming from the direction where I saw the unconscious people. On my left, closer to the exit to the first level and then outside of the bunker. I didn't stop to look for the voice's owner. "Everybody else, please stay in your beds!" the voice continued, while I was trying to help another woman. Unfortunately, I was too late for her, so I moved on to the next one. This time it was a man, a young one, I knew him from my dad's work. He didn't even need the heart massage, he woke up almost immediately. I didn't even stop to ask how he was feeling.

"Emily!" the woman, whose voice I had heard before, yelled to me. I turned towards her.

"Erica!?" I said.

"Go to the end and start there. I think the damage was the worst there. I'll work on those people here," she said to me. I nodded my head in agreement, and went to the end of the floor. My capsule was around the middle of the first room. There were 4 rooms with capsules in total, each of them holding 200 beds, 100 on each side. When I reached the end of the rows, I saw that Erica was right. The damage was worst at this part, maybe because it was further form the main generator. Almost everyone here lay motionless, and on first glance I couldn't distinguish between those who were dead, and those who were still alive. So, I checked everybody's pulse one by one, and started helping those that I instinctively felt hope for. My instincts allowed me to save another nine people before I realized that everybody I was checking on, was dead. That didn't stop me, though. I kept going on and on to check people's pulses, even those I checked before. Then I started to mouth-breath those that didn't have any pulse. My cat was following me, but I didn't pay attention to him. I was crying silently, and saying a prayer in my mind. _Please, God,_ I kept saying, _Please let me save just one more person. Please, God, please, God, please, God, maybe this one? Please!"_

I don't know how long I was doing that until finally Erica pulled me away. I was crying and shaking, and couldn't stop. Just the way I was right before going to bed a long time ago.

"Shhhh," Erica kept saying. "It's okay, it's okay. You're okay."

I wasn't. None of us was, and we wouldn't be for a very long time.

I was sitting in what the official called the dining room, in front of bread and protein paste, made of soy. I wasn't eating, and nether was Erica, who was sitting next to me. I was staring absent-mindedly in front of me, where some guy I didn't know was sitting with the same empty stare that – as I assumed – must have been on my face. Erica was holding my hand under the table, wanting to comfort me as well as herself. I had a feeling she was holding the other hand with her finance, Scott, who was sitting on her other side. In the past three hours I found out that my mother never made it to the bunker, and neither did Steve. They were both gone, and what was worse it was Steve' fault that my mom was gone. He told everybody he knew about the bunker, he came here with a large group of his friends and friends of his friends, and they were blocking the entrance. The officials already in the bunker didn't open the door for anybody else, not even those that were supposed to have come here. Instead of 800 people, only 635 made it to the capsules and were put to sleep. Instead of 635, only 434 were awaken three hours earlier. The rest died of suffocation before we managed to open all the capsules or bring them to life.

And the worst part? We didn't sleep for 20 years. We slept for 141 years, and it was 2202 year. Even if anybody survived the bombs; even if there is some life outside, we wouldn't know anybody. All our friends, all of our family, they would have been long gone. It was a lot to take in, in such a short time for everybody, so nobody at the table was truly in the mood for eating.

"Em, it's starting," Erica said to me and squeezed my hand. Our president – whom we have elected before we went to freeze-sleep – got up, ready to start his speech. All of the eyes turned on him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he started, and I would have laughed, if I wasn't so numb. "We are sorry to inform you that there was a malfunction in the generator. As you may have heard, it has been 141 years since we all went to sleep in this bunker." Rumors all around the table assured me that no, not everybody had heard. My dad told me this, after he had found out himself, right before he was called to do his duty, which in this case meant organize a meal and a formal gathering for the survivors. And deciding what to do with the bodies. My father was privy to all the information because he had been a president of Minnesota, one of the states in coalition before the bombs. They had formed a coalition, hoping to restore previous United States as a country, and maybe then restore it to its formal power, but this plan had to be put on hold because of the coming apocalypse. Now maybe the United States of America will never exist again.

"We are sorry to inform you that we have lost 201 of our people due the malfunction," the president continued. I could hear the muffled sobs and cries around me. "Please let's take a moment of silence to honor their memory," the president continued. I looked around all the tables. They were placed in rows, with 50 seats on each side of the table, making the place for 100 hundred people at one table. Four tables were placed next to each other, and the fifth – where all the officials sat – was placed on the head of the rest of the tables, perpendicularly to us. My dad was at the fifth table.

"Thank you," the president said, when he decided the moment of silence was over. "I am sure that you are all wondering what is going to happen next. I assure you we are all working on a plan to get us on the ground and start our lives there again. In the meantime, the bunker was built to last for a very long time, longer than the 141 year we have been here. We have supplies that could last us for around a year, maybe a year and a half, since we lost so many people. For now, please enjoy the meal, and after that you will be guarded to your rooms. The bedrooms are all on this very floor. Tomorrow we will send out a group of people to test the conditions of the ground and report back to us. We are looking for volunteers, so if you think you can handle this, please place your name in this box," he pointed to a big, blue metal box standing on the right side of the fifth table. "Please note that you have to be healthy and in good physical condition for this expedition, for it may – but doesn't have to – be dangerous. You also have to be of age."

He went silent, but I had a feeling he wanted to say something more.

"One more thing," he continued. "The bodies of our friends that did not make it, are on the forth level. This level is strictly prohibited, and only a few guards have access to it. Please note that we will arrange the funerals as soon as we gather information on the current state of the ground. Thank you," he finished.

"Although," he added right away, "There is one more thing. Could Emilia Davis stand up, please?"

It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking about me. I stood up and looked at the table with all the presidents. I stopped my eyes at my father, who smiled at me and nodded his head encouragingly.

"I would like to thank you for all your help today," the president said.

"Me?" I asked. I thought I only asked this in my mind, but I must have said it out loud, for I heard some people laugh.

"Yes, Emilia. You were the first person to wake up, you alerted your father, so he was able to turn the generator off and open the capsules. If it wasn't for you, we would probably all be dead, or at least more of us."

I felt people staring at me, and I was sure I was turning red. I hated being the center of attention.

"That wasn't me, that was my cat," I said, which was greeted with some more laughter. Fluffy was sitting next to me, by my leg. He didn't want to leave my side from the moment he woke me up. He was never a people's guy, so probably he was scared of all these faces.

"Well, then, we thank your cat," the president replied. I smiled. "Please give Emilia a round of applause," the president added, and everybody started clapping. I wanted the Earth to open and swallow me. The president couldn't have known it, so I didn't blame him, but standing there and being clapped on, felt terrible. I must admit, that, it kept my mind off the loss of my mom, Steve and so many more people, even if for just a little while.

The rooms we had were small, and each of them had two bunk-beds. That meant there was hardly any space left that wasn't taken by the bed. My dad arranged it so could Erica and Scott would be our roommates. Erica was my friend form the hospital, where I had my internship before all this. I was only twenty, but they took me in – probably the influence of my dad. Sometimes I hated that I got to have so many things others didn't just because my dad was a president. Want to do an internship at hospital, though you are on the second year of college? Sure, go ahead. What to survive the nuclear apocalypse in the bunker? Sure, no problem. But another part of me felt happy to be privileged. I figured, as long as I wasn't doing anything wrong. And I was a good doctor – well, intern – even Erica admitted that after half a year of my training. She was almost 28 years old, and her boyfriend Scott was 25, but I didn't care about the age difference between them and me. In fact, I liked it. I have always liked being around people that were older than me, maybe because I didn't have much contact with people my age since, well, I was born, basically.

We all had one set of pajamas and two of daily wear – one dress, and one shirt, jeans and sweater for girls. The clothes were laying on each of the bed. There was girl's clothes on my bed, and though they were a little too big, I didn't complain. Erica had to go and exchange hers, because she had man's clothes on her bed, but my dad and Scott got lucky. I sat on the upper bed and stroked Fluffy absent-mindedly. I had already told Erica I was going to be one of those that came outside the next day. She tried to convince me otherwise, but she respected my decision. Milton and Kazuo were going, too. I felt a little ashamed to admit that I didn't expect them to come. They had always been rather observers, and I simply thought they'd be scared. But Milton said that he was up for adventure, and wherever Milton came, so did Kazuo. And the other way round. They were best friends since they were five years old, since Milton protected Kazuo form the bullies. They were officially brothers since they were eight years old, though Milton lived in Kazuo's home since they were both six years old. They were one of the few people my age I actually were friends with. They were funny and smart, and we always had fun. The rest of people my age I had known were gone now. I only had Kazuo, Milton, Erica and my father. I knew a lot of faces in the bunker, and a lot of them I could call by their names, but they weren't friends, they were just people that had worked with my dad, or on the construction of the bunker, and I had met them one way or another before the bombs.

"Hey, you," Scott said, approaching me. "So, you're going out, aren't you?"

I sighed. I had to save all my strength for my dad, I didn't want to waste any on Scott.

"Yes, I am," I answered.

"Good luck, then. I hope you have fun," he said, to my surprise. I wasn't sure he meant it, but I looked up at him and saw he was smiling. "Really? No warning? No trying to persuade me otherwise?" I asked.

"Nope," he answered. "I will leave that to your dad. Myself? I'm a coward. I want others to do the dirty job. But if you've really made up your mind, I'm not going to stop you."

He was still smiling, and I realized he wanted to encourage me. I felt grateful.

"Thanks. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm sure the Earth is beautiful and we will see all wonders around us."

"Hey Scott," we heard a voice coming from the entrance to the room. We both looked in its direction. "Leave us alone," my dad added. Scott gave me another smile, and went out of the room.

"I'll go find Erica," he said, before disappearing behind a corner.

"Sweetheart," my dad said, approaching me. I have known him my whole life, and still could feel astonished by his ability to transform in one second from an official "only-mean-business" president to into a "daddy-mode."

"Dad… Please don't try to change my mind. I want to go," I said.

"I just don't want to lose you," he answered, stroking my hair. It was let down now, and it almost reached my waist. My dad was old-fashioned, he was always proud of my long, dark brown hair, same as my mother's. At the thought of my mom, I felt an urge to burst out in tears again, so I focused on stroking the black, fluffy fur of my cat. He was a beautiful creature, all black except for a white "cravat" under his chin, and little "socks" on each of his paw. Now, he was purring in my lap. It was the most wonderful sound in the world for me, and could always make me calm.

"You're not going to lose me. I know it's dangerous, but we all have to go out sooner or later, dad. I'll be careful. You know I will be."

"You're all I've got after Clarise…" he stopped.

"That's not fair, dad," I said. "You bringing mom into this. I'm sorry, okay. I know it's my fault that all these people didn't make it on time. I thought I could trust Steve. I loved him"

"That's not important now, Emily. I know you will have to live with your guild till the end of your life, so I'm not going to give you a hard time," my dad said. "But I told you so," he added.

Somehow, I burst out laughing. I stopped after a minute as abruptly as I had started.

"Sorry," I said.

"Is there anything I could say to stop you?"

"Nope. I've made up my mind, daddy. I'm going out. I'm healthy, over 18 and I volunteered. That's what the President was asking for, right? So, I'm the one to go."

He signed. "Okay," he said. "Just know that I'm against."

I nodded my head. "I know, dad. And I'll remember."

He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but instead he held me tight. I held him back. It crossed my mind that it went easier than I had expected, and I felt grateful.


	3. The Expedition

Chapter Three

The Expedition

There were thirty-one people in our escapade. Some of us wanted to separate, but it was decided right from the beginning that it was better to stay together. We didn't expect any people up there on the ground, but there could be dangerous animals, and we couldn't know what sort of terrain we will see on the ground. We might see grass and trees, but it might also be a desert. It was better to be in a large group. At least most of us thought so, me among them.

We went right after breakfast – consisting of the same soy paste and crackers we had frozen in the kitchen. We had other food, too, of course, but for now we had to ration, until we knew what was out there. I heard murmurs of discontent for such diet, but I myself didn't care. I felt I should have been hungrier, perhaps even starving after having been asleep for over 140 years, but it felt like my stomach was smaller, maybe even still frozen, for I had troubles to finish even my soy paste.

Or maybe it was the stress.

The first thing I though after getting on the ground was that the air was amazing. We got out and stopped for a moment, keeping close to the bunker. Everybody was just taking it all in. The air was better than I could remember. I wasn't sure if it was because I had been closed under the ground for so long, or because it really was better than we had left it. Whatever the reason, I closed my eyes for a few seconds and just breathed in, and out, enjoying it. The air and the sun on my cheeks. It was the middle of May, and the weather was beautiful. We couldn't have picked up a better day. Of course, we had cameras monitoring the entrance to the bunker, and we could see that it wasn't raining, but it's one thing to see it, and another to experience it.

"Come on, people, let's move it," we heard a voice of the guard in charge. It was a woman over her forties, and I had known her before. She was very dedicated to her work, and for me she seemed always serious. When I was a kid, Milton, Kazuo and I were joking that she was a witch transported to us from middle ages, and that she would eventually catch us. One day I got so scared after our own stories, that I couldn't sleep at night.

Of course, that didn't stop me from thinking of another ways for her to catch and torture children the very next day.

We started going. None of us – except for Mrs. Waters, "the witch," – were in a hurry. It's not like she was going especially fast, it was more that the rest of us was just taking it in and making it very slow. The ground was beautiful. The bunker was located outside of the city of Richmond, the capital of the state of Virginia. There used to be mostly grass and some flowers, and a lot of garbage left by passers-by or drunks. Now, all of it was gone. Instead of the garbage, we went out right at the meadow. The door to our bunker was on that meadow, untouched for over 140 years. It was a miracle that our energy supply hadn't turned off for all this time. We had hydroelectricity with a source coming from hydroelectric plant connected to James river; it also had an emergency connection to St. Mary's. I guess our engineers had done a really good job before going to freeze-sleep.

It felt almost a sin to walk on this ground. The flowers on it were nothing like I remembered from the old days. They were colorful, most of them had more than one color in it. I saw a flower that was red and blue, but also one that was yellow, violet and purple, and another one that was red and yellow and orange. There was even one that had each petal with a different color. The most amazing thing about them, though, was that they were all glittering. I was searching in my head for the words that could best describe this blaze of colors and glitter. Amazing, marvelous, astonishing, _estupendo._ None of those words seemed to be telling exactly what I felt. That marvel.

And then I thought of all these people that had died here, not being able to get inside the bunker. The radiation made the flowers glitter and shine, but it had also killed those who managed to escape from the bombs. And I stopped smiling.

"It's so wonderful," Milton came to me from the back. "I can't believe it's so beautiful!"

"Come on, people, we have a mission to complete. We need to find eatable plants and see if there are any living animals. Let's move it."

"The witch strikes again," Milton whispered to my ear. I smiled.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Kazuo asked us. He was standing right next to Milton, as usually. Those two had always been inseparable.

"You!" I said. Milton laughed, and I so did I.

"Oh, come on!" Kazuo said, pushing me. "Don't be like that."

"Come on," I said, mocking Mrs. Waters. "We have a mission to complete."

They both laughed out loud, which turned Mrs. Waters' attention to us.

"What's so funny back there?" she shouted in our direction.

"Nothing!" we yelled in unison and started laughing again.

"If you're going to behave like children, you can go back right this instant!" she yelled.

"Come on," a woman's voice said. "They're just kids, leave them alone. Besides, enjoy this moment. We have plenty of time."

"No, we don't," she answered. "We have to get to the ground as soon as possible. We don't know why the capsule broke down, we don't know what had been going on for over 140 years, we don't know anything about this world, so there is no time for playing. Anybody who doesn't understand that, can go right back. Others, please follow me."

After Mrs. Waters' words there was a silence for a short moment, but then all started talking and arguing. It seemed like some wanted to take their time and enjoy everything – those would be the ones to take photos, if we had cameras, I was certain – but some agreed with Mrs. Waters.

"Enough!" I yelled. I seldom yelled. All of them turned to me. "Let's just go, okay? It's not something we should fight about. We are probably the last people on Earth, so please. No fighting. Let's do this better this time around."

I was surprised to see that they listened to me. They stopped whining and followed Mrs. Waters.

"Nice leadership skills," Milton whispered to me.

"Me? No way in hell," I answered. Milton and Kazuo laughed, but quietly this time. We went on.

The meadow spread out for another few kilometers, and we walked through them with no more arguing or delays. I still admired the flowers, and even picked up a few, though it felt a little like a sin. I stopped, though, after Kazuo pointed out that they would probably wither by the time we would go back. We were supposed to spend the night outside. With each passing minute I became more sure that the radiation wouldn't harm us. It was long gone, and the human race was safe, I kept saying to myself. That was what our biologists said, but they couldn't be 100% sure. I figured, we were still alive, so we probably were safe.

Behind the meadow there were woods, that from the distance seemed like never-ending. Whichever way we would choose to go from the meadow, we would eventually find trees. I guessed that was all that was left from the city of Richmond, trees and flowers. We entered them and looked around. At first glance it seemed like there was nothing interesting, just various trees, but after a kilometer or two, we found nuts. Walnut trees, and some other, unknown nuts, growing on the ground. I wanted to start picking them, as I had done with the flowers, but Mrs. Waters stopped me. "We should rest now," she said. "We have been going for a long time now, over three hours. We will collect the nuts on our way back home. Now, let's take out our soy bars and have dinner."

At first, I didn't want to do this, I wanted to explore, go deeper into the woods. But as soon as I touched the ground, the pain in my legs started. I felt all the kilometers done in that day with intensity I had never felt before. I let out a little groan, but then I stopped myself, embarrassed. After all, we were just walking. But I looked around, and so that many people were doing the same as me. Stretching legs, groaning, massaging them. I felt a little better – mentally, cause the legs were still killing me.

"I guess we're not in our best shape, are we?" Milton said. I shrugged my shoulders.

"That's what happens when you oversleep," I said. Milton and Kazuo smiled. Then, we took out our "dinner" and ate in silence. The talking, that had been quite loud and excited on our walk, subsided now. I thought that maybe everybody wanted to just go to bed as much as me. But I wasn't ready to go back under the ground. I had tasted the feel of real sun and the taste of fresh air, and I wasn't ready to give it up so soon. I finished my bar, drank some of my water, and lay on the ground on my back. Some of the others did that, too.

"Hey, Em, sing," Milton asked.

"Are you crazy? I don't sing in public," I answered, which was an obvious lie.

"Since when?" Kazuo asked. If Kazuo joined in, I knew I was lost. "You're the master of karaoke."

"Just one song. Please." Milton added. "Hey, you want her to sing?" he added, louder.

"Shut up!" I told him. It was too late, most of the others already heard him.

"Yeah, why not," one man said. "Maybe we'll join."

"Sing! Sing! Sing!" they started chanting.

"Fine!" I said. I knew it would come to this. I sat up and straightened my back. I hadn't sung in over 140 years, so my first song would have to be something special, I thought. And then I thought, _screw special,_ and sang "So what!" by P!nk. And to my surprise, a big part of our party joined in singing, including Milton and Kazuo. Felt nice to know that they knew the words, but it felt even nicer to be singing at all. With my eyes closed, somehow it felt almost safe. The world could be good again. We could do something good here.

The break didn't last long, about an hour. My wrist watch, that I got from my mom on my nineteenth birthday, was somehow still working. Groaning, and complaining silently, we started marching again into the woods. We saw a lot of animals on the way, deer, and rabbits, also birds flying above our heads. This filled my heart with more hope. Surely, if the animals and flowers could bloom on Earth, so could we. It felt serene and peaceful while we were marching, so even though every bone in my body seemed to hurt, I was enjoying the walk. Soon, the woods ended, and we entered a field of some grain. At first, I thought maybe it was wheat, but others confirmed it was barley. A long, big field of barley was spreading in front of us, and to both the right and the left. At first glance it seemed endless. We took a few steps deeper into the field and touched it, admiring it.

"Okay, people!" Mrs. Waters shouted, which made us stop whatever we were doing. "I think we have enough evidence that the ground is safe for us to come up," she added, and I felt a sudden, weird whir in my stomach. I took the barley in my hand and looked at it closely. Then, I looked at the field on my right, and on my left. It didn't seem disorganized, or wild. On the contrary, the rows came straight one after another. A few meters in front of me I was even sure I saw a path. A path for walking between the barley. I started going in this direction.

"Hey," Mrs. Waters called after me, but I didn't stop."

"Emily?" Milton shouted behind me, but I still didn't stop. I reached the path and took a closer look.

"What is it?" Mrs. Waters asked from behind me. I heard footsteps approaching and turned to face her.

"I think this is a path," I told her. She stood next to me and looked at the path. We both kneeled to touch the ground. It seemed watered, especially closer to the barley. I was right, the path was even and unnatural. This wasn't just a miraculous field of barley. It wasn't wild.

Somebody had planted it.

Then, I heard a man screamed and all hell broke loose.

"Get down!" another man screamed. I was already kneeling, but now I lay on the ground, at the same time reaching for the gun I was given. We all had guns on us, just in case, and for hunting. I wasn't going to hunt, but I took the gun in case I would have to defend myself. I was touching the ground with my face, but I wouldn't move. I heard more screams, and some gunshots. It all lasted for a while, and then it fell silent, again. I got up slowly and looked around me.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed at the sight before my eyes. There were dead bodies around us, at least it seemed that way. I walked over to the closest, and saw it was a woman I had remembered was an engineer. I kneeled next to her and checked her pulse. She was dead. I closed her eyes and said a little prayer. Mrs. Waters kneeled next to me.

"Is she… dead?" she asked. I nodded and looked at the arrow that hit the dead woman on the back and went on the other side, on the stomach. _I was right,_ I thought, _there are others here._

"Emily!" Milton ran towards me, followed by Kazuo, and they both held me.

"I'm glad you're okay," Kazuo said.

"You, too," I answered. I looked at the dead woman again and tried to remember her name. It was Ever something. Everton. Everdone. Eversome. I couldn't remember.

"Okay, people," Mrs. Waters must have regained her calm, and wanted to restore some order to what was going on. Others were crying out, checking the bodies lying on the ground and looking frantically around themselves with their guns pointed in all directions.

"We need a plan," Mrs. Waters continued. "We need to come back to the bunker and report what has just happened. We will start going back right now, we will not collect or hunt for anything, we go straight back. Is that clear?"

Murmurs of consent were heard all around us. Most people were looking at Mrs. Waters like children looking for direction, confused and lost. The others were still looking around with their guns held out. Milton, Kazuo and I got up and joined the others. We were ready to retreat, when a swift sound of another arrow was heard, and one of the gunners fell to the ground, hit by an arrow right in his forehead. He fell next to me, and I jumped to my knees, took out my gun again and started shooting in panic. I heard screams around me, and more gun shots. Milton and Kazuo got down in the barley, too and started shooting in the direction where the arrow had come from. I stopped shooting, thinking that there were only that many bullets in my gun. I took a deep breath and got up. I saw a figure falling from the trees, probably hit by one of our people. I looked at the trees and aimed. I shot two times and fell again. I had a feeling I caught a glimpse of another figure falling from a tree but didn't want to stand to check. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. Most of the shooting subsided, only to start again a minute later. I looked to my left and saw two more women, around my age, fall from the hit of more arrows. I felt rage take control of me, and I got up again, and started shooting in the same direction as before. This time I was sure I hit one of them. I saw a figure falling from the nearest tree, right before I saw a movement in the next tree. I jumped again and fell on the ground on my back. It was too late, though. I felt a sharp pain in my left arm and let out a loud moan. I held my left arm with my right hand tightly, and realized I was luckier than the others. I got hit, but it didn't kill me. Yet.

"Emily!" Milton called out my name, and I saw his face above mine. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," I answered. "I need you to tie something, some sort of bandage over my wound, very tightly, okay? Make some pressure."

Milton nodded his head and started bandaging my arm. I tried to keep awake, but finally I gave in to the pain and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, it was dark, but we were still on the ground. I looked around, and saw that Milton was sitting on my right and Kazuo on my left.

"Hey, guys," I said to them.

"Emily!" Milton whispered. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," I answered. I looked around. We were on the brink of the woods, on the meadow leading to our bunker. I noticed three people keeping guard, the rest of them were asleep on the ground. "What happened?" I asked.

"We lost nine of our people," Kazuo said. "We killed everybody that were in the trees. There were fifteen of them, women and men, dressed all in black, in plain pants and shirts. We took their bows, and we collected some nuts…" he broke. "Some of us did, at least," he added. "Then we killed this big animal who attacked us on our way back. It was dark, and…" he broke off.

"It's black and looks a little like a panther, and a little like a tiger, and somehow he's different than both panther and tiger. It's like a new species. It's nothing like we've seen before." Milton continued for him.

"And it has two heads," I tried to joke.

"No, just one head, but it's huge, and can walk on two legs, and on four, too." Milton wasn't in a mood for joking. "This thing attacked Mrs. Waters and almost killed her. Kazuo killed the animal at the last moment, just as it was going to rip her throat."

"Oh God," I said, and fought the sudden urge to vomit. "What the hell happened while we were asleep? What happened to the United States?"

"Em, we survived the end of the world. This world… this is a different world." Kazuo answered. "And I for one am hating it."

The three of us got quiet. I had no idea what to say, nor what was going to happen now. The feeling of relief and hope I had felt a few hours before, vanished.

"Hey, you there!" we heard a voice of one of our guards. I tried to get up to see what was going on, but Milton stopped me.

"Stop her!" the same male's voice called. The two guards started running in the direction of the forest.

"The fools, what are they doing!" Kazuo muttered to himself.

"Obviously, they're chasing somebody," I answered.

"Why the hell…?" he didn't finish the sentence, for more people around us woke up and started running in the same direction as the first ones.

"The idiots are going to get themselves killed," I said.

They didn't, though. Instead, they came back holding a girl between them. Two men were holding her by the arms, and two were walking behind them. There were two more people on the sides of the prisoner and their captors.

"They brought a hostage," I said. The hostage didn't go peacefully. She was kicking and screaming and trying to get out, but the men were holding her tightly. When they reached the rest of us, they threw her on the ground. She got up immediately and wanted to run away.

"Stop!" one of the men shouted at her. He caught her by the arm. The other approached her and put a gun to her head. She stopped fighting.

"Good. I see you know what that is," said the one holding the gun to the girl's face.

"Fuck you!" she yelled.

"What shall we do with her?" the one with the gun asked. Then I remembered his name, Jack Carrters, one of the security guards. He was directing his question to one of the men that brought the girl from the forest.

"We have a hostage now, we bring it to the bunker and then we decide what to do with her. Right now, please tie her up and guard her."

"Who is that?" I asked Milton.

"Since Mrs. Waters is still unconscious, he's the one in charge. His name is Jake Peterson," Milton answered.

The men tied the girl up to a nearby tree, and two of them took guard.

"I think we should get some more sleep," Kazuo said. "We still have a few hours' walk-in front of us tomorrow morning."

They lay down on each of my side and closed their eyes. I rolled on my right side and closed my eyes. I didn't fall asleep at all. I couldn't.

"God, what's wrong with me, it's just a scratch," I said, trying to sit up. I was in my bed in our little room in the bunker, and I just woke up. A day had passed since we came back from our expedition, and I spent this day resting. The pain in my arm stopped me from getting up, and I fell back on the pillows.

"We are all weak, Em," Erica answered. "We've been sleeping for 141 years, after all."

"God, I used to be athletic," I said. "Tabatha, kickboxing and swimming every week," I added. I felt a surge of longing for all of this. For the freedom of just going out, taking the costume and checking in at our local swimming pool.

Erica looked at me. "You used to be a student, sing in a choir, work in a hospital and volunteer at animal shelter, Emily. Now it's all gone. You have to make another life in a different world. The soon you realize it, the better."

"I've always loved your brutal honesty," I said.

"And I loved your sensitivity," Erica answered. "You're the warmest, the most sensitive person I've ever met. I'm afraid you're too sensitive, and now you must be strong, you have to be tough. You understand that, right?"

"So, you're saying that my ability to be emphatic is weakness?"

"No, Em!" she called out. "I'm just saying that I'm worried about you."

"I know," I said. "I love you, you know?" I added.

"I love you, too. You're my friend, a very close and dear friend. I hope we'll make through this."

"Me, too. You know what else I love about you? Your brain. You're the smartest person I know, smarter than my dad."

"Thanks. I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" she answered, smiling. I laughed.

"You know I killed somebody out there," I said, when I stopped laughing.

"I do now," she answered.

"I'm not that innocent, after all."

"It was self-defense, Em, you had to do that."

"How do you know it was self-defense?"

"What else could it have been? You were attacked, and you defended yourself and the others. It had to be done," Erica said. I didn't answer.

"Rest now," Erica said. I sighed, but closed my eyes, not because she told me to, but because she I felt tired and weak. I decided I had to get strong again, that meant sleeping, eating, and taking care of myself as much as I could under the circumstances.


	4. Prisoners

Chapter Four

The Prisoners

I got up the next day, feeling much better. The arm still hurt a bit, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I wanted to get my plan into action as soon as possible. That meant being active, even if only by walking around and helping in the kitchen. The life in the bunker was slowly getting organized. We were eating soy paste, and meat that we had frozen before going to cryosleep. I hated eating meat again, but there was no other choice. They also started growing soy beans and corn. There were plans for more, but our farm had to be expanded. I found this all out after breakfast the day I got up. The president spoke to us again, revealing these plans. He also said that our prisoner hadn't spoken much so far, but they were working on this problem. Then, he informed us that the members of our guard, strictly trained in self-defense and shooting, will go out again this afternoon for more nuts and barley. There were also plans to talk to people that lived outside of the bunker, to see where and how we could arrange our lives together, so we wouldn't have to fight. In the meantime, we had to arrange our life in the bunker, so we all got jobs to do. I got to help with preparing the meals and cleaning after them. Besides that, I could do whatever I wanted with my time, and that meant joining the shooting and self-defense class. Erica was teaching it, and she talked me into conducting the kickboxing class. Level three of our bunker had all rooms needed for this – four big gyms, with all equipment we could dream of: boxing dummies, treadmills, balls, even hoola-hops. They were saying that our time in the bunker was supposed to be limited, but looking at all this, and wandering around, I had a feeling they were preparing for a longer time here.

All seemed pretty vague to me, anyhow. I knew they wouldn't tell everything to the public, so I went straight to my dad. He had to know the plan, he had to know everything, or at least most of what was going on. I caught him that day before we went to bed, and asked him to go outside our room with me. I let him to one of the gyms, and took him to the little room where all the equipment was kept.

"What's with this secrecy?" he asked me, when I closed the doors behind us.

"I just don't want anybody to hear that," I answered, sitting on one of the balls for basketball. "See, we are even planning basketball matches. I don't believe we are going outside anytime soon, and neither do they, is that true?"

"Honey…" he started. He was using the tone I knew so well from my childhood. It was the tone of ' _you're too young to understand that_.' "We don't know yet. We have to organize our life in a place that is safe. You understand it, right?"

"What's going on outside? Was anybody else there after I got hurt?"

"Yes, there was one group."

"And what happened to them?"

My dad signed, and also sat on one of the balls. There were no chairs here, and I thought we must have looked pretty weird: a slim, dark-haired girl with long hair, kept down, and a middle-aged, equally slim guy with the same dark blue eyes as the girl; both crunching on basketballs. Only, nobody could see our eyes, cause it was dark, and none of us turned the lights on. First of all, we didn't want anybody to see us, second of all, we preferred to limit our usage of electricity. Nobody could know what happened to our source of electricity, and for how long it will last us. Personally, I still thought it was a miracle that it was still working, especially after it broke down in our capsules.

My dad didn't answer for a long time, so I repeated the question.

"Some of them died," he answered.

"How many?"

"7 people," he said.

"They were killed, like the ones that were with me?" I asked him, though I knew the answer.

"Four of them were killed by people living outside, but the rest got attacked by animals. Big, black creatures with five legs, and it took seven shots to kill just one of them."

I was sure I was getting pale, and was glad my dad didn't see that.

"Dad… what does it mean?" I asked. "I know it means the world is not as it used to be, but what does it mean for us? We have to have somebody who knows about this world, who can help us."

"And you think we're not working on that?"

"You mean that girl we captured? What happened to her?"

"She's on restricted level, but she doesn't want to talk. We are trying to make her, but…"

"What?" I urged him.

"She's… I can't… I'm sorry, honey," he said. "I can't tell you more."

I could hear he sounded so tired, and so sad, that I didn't pressure him. All I wanted to do was to hug him, to make it better somehow. This man that I had always believed to be all so powerful, this man sounded so weak and defeated that I felt this cold, deep fright take over me from inside. It was nothing I had ever felt before. It was more than I felt when I got hurt shot by an arrow. Then it was sudden scare and pain took over me. Now, it was slow and it kept on sinking into me.

Our world was gone. We were probably at war in an unfamiliar and very unforgiving surroundings. I said it inside my head a few times, and let out a sigh. Then, I held my dad tight to me, and he held me back. We didn't talk anymore.

The next evening it was my dad who took me to the gym, and into the little room with balls and other equipment. He seemed a little out of breath when he sat me down on the same ball that the day before, and held my hand tight. I could see, before he closed the doors, that his gaze was frantic, he was looking around as if afraid someone was following us.

"Dad, you're scaring me," I said to him. The cold fright that had appeared the day before sank in and wasn't letting go, but this was something new.

"Em, I need your help. We didn't tell this to the public, but we took two more prisoners with us," he said. "One yesterday, and the other the day before."

"Oh my God," I said. "So we ARE at war?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Yesterday's trip didn't bring any victims on our side, but our guards did kill a few of the Earthians"

"Earthians?"

"That's what we are calling those that live on the ground."

"Okay, so what do you need my help for?"

"You need to swear not to tell this to anybody," he said with urgency in his voice.

"Okay, I swear."

"Emily, this is important. Please, you have to mean it."

"Daddy, I swear. I won't tell anybody anything, okay? You can trust me."

"Okay, Emily," he said. Then he started pacing back and forth, which looked a little funny in the small space where we were. Three steps and he was at the wall, three steps back and he was at the opposite wall.

"Emily, one of our prisoners died yesterday."

"Why?"

"Because we are torturing them," he answered.

I swallowed a big, bitter gulp that was forming in my mouth.

"Why?"

"They won't tell us anything, Emily. We know they speak English, but they don't want to say anything. And our guards are pushing it too far. I need you to take care of the prisoners."

"Take care? How?"

"Don't worry, they won't be any danger to you. They are chained, and besides, there will be two guards with you at any times, okay?"

He was speaking with the same urgency as before.

"You just need to wash them, feed them, give them some medicine. You need to keep them alive. Sooner or later, they'll break."

And then I realized. He wasn't worried that we have turned into monsters and tortured other human beings. He was worried it wasn't working. He was worried about me and my safety, but he didn't care about the prisoners.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he shouldn't have, and maybe I shouldn't have. But I couldn't stop thinking about this over and over again. They were torturing them. And I was about to see the aftermath. Not only once, but I had to come back probably every day to keep them alive until they were ready to talk.

"And what happens next?" I asked, as if my dad could hear my thoughts.

"Next? What do you mean?"

"What happens when they tell us everything we need to know? What are you going to do with them?"

"We either exchange them for a peace treaty, or kill them. That depends on the Erthians and their decision. Also, we are working on a plan to…"

"To what?"

"To take Earth by force, Emily. It's our rightful place. We shouldn't be locked down here, okay? We have to go outside."

"Okay," I said. "I'll help you with the prisoners," I added. I wanted to add "only if you promise to let them live," but I didn't. I had to see it with my own eyes, and I couldn't risk he would take this from me.

"Okay, thanks, Emily. I knew I could count on you," my dad said. "Let's go right now," he added. "Take what you think you might need from medical, and some food and meet me at the door to our bedroom. I will have a card with restricted access ready for you.

"What about water?" I asked.

"Water is there, don't worry. Go, hurry up!" he urged me.

I got up and went to medical.

The prisoners were kept on the last level of our bunker, "the forbidden one." This was the first time I was going there, and I was a little excited. I stopped, though, once I found out only part of this level will be available to me. When we went down to the very bottom, we got off the elevator right to the entrance to the hospital. We went inside, and a big room with empty beds appeared. We went on, to the next door. It led to a big corridor, with small rooms on each side, for patients that had to be confined and separated from others. I looked through the little windows on top of each door, but I found all the rooms empty, too. We went on to the next door, and then we stopped.

"What is it?" I asked my dad. "Why are there so many empty beds and so many empty rooms?"

"It's for emergencies only. And this room is the most important one. It contains water, and an emergency hydro generator. It has all the basic medical equipment, and frozen meat and soy. We had prepared it a long time ago, just in case, and we are hoping we would never have to use it. Now, we are going to enter the last room, where the prisoners are kept. Emilia," he placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "I want you to be ready for what you're about to see, okay? Remember, that you cannot tell anybody about this. Please. Swear it."

"Okay," I answered. "I mean, I swear I will never tell anybody what I'll see in here," I said.

My dad patted me on my arms and gave me a little smile.

"That's my girl," he said.

"Dad… are you all right?" I asked. His voice was shaking and I thought it was weird he took so much unnecessary time to let me inside, while he had said before that we didn't have much time.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Come on, let's go."

He told me to use the card he gave me, to check if it was working, so I placed it on the lock, and the green light shined. I pushed the handle, and the door opened. I entered, followed by my dad.

At first I saw two guards. They looked at us, but my dad told them it was fine and that I was to examine the prisoners. They nodded their heads in unison, and made the way for us to pass.

We were in a big room with no furniture, just a cold, grey floor and walls with the same color. The prisoners were there, at the end of the room, in front of us. I took a few steps towards them, and stopped.

It was a man and a woman, and they were both tied up to the walls with chains on their ankles and wrists. They were sitting, with their heads put down, so I couldn't see their faces. There was blood all over them, and from the distance I wasn't sure if they were wearing anything or if they were naked.

"Emilia? Are you okay?" my dad asked from behind me.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," I answered. I took some more steps in their direction. I could sense more distinctly the smell that was not so strong when I entered the room. I knew what it was: smell of unwashed bodies and of blood. I looked around, but I couldn't see any urine or excrements.

"The guards clean their urine and excrements, but they don't clean the prisoners," my dad said, as if he was reading my mind. I looked at him, but then back to the prisoners. I started walking again, so I finally reached them.

"What did they do to them?" I asked my dad.

"Flogging, water-boarding, burning, cutting…"

"Okay. Stop. That's enough," I said. I had no idea how I was going to tend to these people, if thinking about what they were through made me sick. But I had to. That was my duty as a doctor and as a human being.

"Okay. I'll start with washing them, then," I said. I had noticed before there was a bucket of water on the right, and a tap over it. I assumed I didn't have to worry about running out of water.

"I'll leave you to it," my dad said. Just ask the guards if you need anything, or if the prisoners… try to hurt you."

"Okay," I said, looking at my dad. He gave me an encouraging smile and left the room. I looked at the guards, but they were standing straight and looking at the walls. Somehow I was sure they avoided looking at me. Or maybe they just avoided looking at our prisoners.

I started with the guy and washed him as quickly as I could. He moaned when I was doing it, but he didn't say a word. He wasn't fully conscious. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he did have some pants on. He had wounds on all his back, cuts on his stomach, a deep wound on his left hand, and some burns on both his arms. He was muscular, dark-skinned, and completely bald.

Then I got to the girl, I looked at her closely. It was the one they caught the first day we were outside, the one I saw. She had long, dark hair, darker than mine, and longer, though now it was dirty and messy, after all these days with no comb or water on it. I stroked it gently, and started washing the girl's face. She couldn't have been much older than me, maybe even younger. She whined and move a little when I was washing her.

"Hey," I said to her. "It's okay, I'm here to help you," I added.

To my surprise, she answered me.

"So let me out," she said so quietly I thought I misheard her.

"What?" I asked.

"Let me out," she repeated. My hand shook at the sound of her voice, but I didn't stop washing her.

"I can't do that," I said, and I could hear my voice was shaking. I was about to cry, so I had to get a grip. I decided not to talk to them anymore.

Since she was awake, I gave her some drinking water. She drank it, and asked for more. I told her I would get it later, and I finished washing her. I could feel her looking at me while I was doing it. She was quiet for most of it, but she let some moans from time to time. She wasn't as badly hurt as the man. She also had wounds on her back, probably from flogging, and cuts on her stomach, but there were no burns. When I was done with washing her, I put an ointment on her back, and then on the man's back. Then I tended for their cuts. The girl was trying to be brave, and only screamed once, letting out some occasional moans, but the man was moaning the whole time.

"He doesn't even have the energy to scream anymore," the girl said, when I was cleaning the guy's hand.

"What was it?" I asked her, looking at the big wound right in the middle of the guy's hand."

"I don't know. They put it inside his hand, and it appeared on the other side," she answered. I was surprised she was talking to me, I was sure she would either be cursing me or just keep silent.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Bianca."  
"That's a very nice name," I answered. "I'm Emily."

Bianca didn't answer.

"How old are you?" I asked again.

"17," she said. So she was younger than I was, she wasn't even of age. If that still was age of 18 in this world.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you," I said to my own surprise.

"Yeah, right," she answered.

"I really am," I assured her.

"You hate us all, as much as we hate you. Isn't that right?"

"No," I said. "I'm not sure what you mean. I don't hate you. I don't know you, any of you."

"And yet you kill us, imprison us, and torture us."

"Hey, you started!" I said, and regretted it at once. It sounded like the kindergarten, with two fighting kids blaming the other for "starting it."

"I didn't start anything with you," Bianca said.

I didn't answer. I kept on tending to the man, and we didn't talk anymore. The man didn't wake up. I gave Bianca more water and left them. I promised myself I would come back as often as I could.


	5. The Interlude

Chapter Five

Interlude

I went to see Bianca and the other prisoner the next day, too. I brought them food, a piece of cooked meat and protein pasta made from soy, and I also brought Fluffy. Bianca was in pretty much the same condition as the day before, but the man seemed worse. He must have been beaten up again, because his whole face was swollen and red, so much that he couldn't open his left eye. Miraculously, though, he was conscious when I arrived.

"Hey there," I said to him. He looked at me with as much rage as he could muster with a massacred face. "I'm here to help," I added, and turned for a bottle of water. I placed it to his lips, but instead of drinking it, he snatched it out of my hand with his chin. I shrieked from shock.

"Hey, you okay there?" one of the guards asked me.

"I'm fine, everything's fine," I answered, not looking at them. I didn't think they would be looking at me, either, at least not for long.

I looked at Bianca for a second, but she wasn't looking at me. There was a distance between the two prisoners, so they wouldn't have any contact with each other. I looked back at the man, and saw that Fluffy was smelling the guy's right foot.

"Hey, hey," I said to my kitty, taking him in my arms and away from the prisoner. "That's off bounds," I added. I got out and let Fluffy go close to the guards, which was at the other side of the room.

"Stay here," I told Fluffy. He sat down by one of the guard's foot and closed his eyes. I came back to Bianca.

"What's that?" she asked. I looked at her in disbelief.

"That's a cat," I answered. "He's my friend."

"What does he do?"

"What?"

"What is he helpful with?"

I felt my heart shrink a little.

"You mean nobody has pets anymore?" I asked. I felt like it was a stupid question. When the world's ending, who was to think about animals, right? I looked at Fluffy, with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, while in fact he was giving me his "silent treatment" because he didn't appreciate that I wouldn't let him examine new territory. I realized he might be special, in a way that he was the last pet in the world, at least in this area of Earth.

"What do you mean by pets?" Bianca asked. "We keep animals, like sheep for their wool, or hens for their eggs, and their meat, and horses to ride on them. I know some people get attached to their horses, but horses are useful. You must take care of them. And this little guy? We'd probably kill him and eat him."

"That's … sad," I said.

"Unless you're one of those who think these guys are gods," Bianca added. "Are you?"

"What? No, of course not. A god? Where did you get that idea from?"

"There's a whole tribe like this," Bianca said.

"Hey, you!" the man called out to us. "Shut your pie-whole!"

"Why?" I asked him.

"Come closer," he said. I approached him. "Closer," he said. I took a few more steps and leaned over him. Then, he spit on my face. I got up, shocked, but I didn't shriek this time. I took some water from the bottle I wanted to feed him with and washed my face with it. The man started laughing.

"Leave her alone, she's okay," Bianca said.

"Shut up! You won't be telling me what to do" the man screamed and spit again, on the floor, in Bianca's general direction. I looked from one to the other in confusion. I thought they would be on the same side, but it seemed like they didn't quite like each other.

"What's your name?" I asked the man.

"None of your business," he said. I looked at Bianca, and this time she looked back at me.

"He's Blase," she said.

"Shut your stupid mouth!" the guy screamed at her again. "This is what they want!" he added.

"What do we want?" I asked, looking at Bianca. "Bianca, please," I added, when she wasn't answering. "What do they want? What were they asking exactly?"

"They're asking questions about the world, about us, our weapons, our fields, our ways of life. Everything."

"What's wrong with that?" I asked. Bianca looked at me as if I was the stupidest child on Earth. "I mean, we just want to know how to live on the ground, we don't want to spend the eternity under the ground."

"You can't win. We know this world, and you don't. As soon as they find the opening to this bunker, you're…" Bianca stopped.

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUNTH!" Blase screamed so loud this time that the guards ran towards us and started beating him on his face without asking questions.

"No, stop!" I yelled at them, but they wouldn't listen. "Stop, please, it's okay, please stop!" I added. When they didn't listen, I pulled the one that was closer and tried to stop him. Instead, he took me by the arms and immobilized me. I could only kick the air, which I tried to do, but there was no use. I stopped fighting him, while the other one was beating and kicking the prisoner. I pleaded to him to stop, and cried my eyes out, but they didn't pay any attention to me. It seemed to last forever, the beating, the blood, the crying of the prisoner, and my own tears. Fluffy came closer to us to see what was going on, and scratched the guy that was holding me, but he kicked him in the gut. Fluffy fell on the wall, unconscious. I screamed even harder, but the guard wouldn't let me go.

Finally, it all stopped. The first guard, a red-haired tall man, called David Johnson on his badge, stopped his beating and nodded at his friend, who was still holding me. The other guard, black, and equally tall guy called Cesar Kaprici, let go of me. I immediately ran towards Fluffy. I knew maybe I should have treated the prisoner first, but the prisoner was spitting on me and screaming in my direction and doing everything he could to show me he hated me, and Fluffy was my friend. He was unconscious, but at first look he seemed okay. I took him gently in my arms and ran to Erica.

Erica didn't ask questions, at least at first. She took care of Fluffy, checked for internal bleeding, and for broken or sprained bones. She said it looked fine, and that cats are resistant and that I shouldn't worry. I could have done it all myself, if I wasn't shaking uncomfortably for the whole time, sniffing and crying.

"Come on, kiddo," Erica said, after finishing with Fluffy. She knew better than to force me to sit down till I was sure my cat was going to be okay.

"Now," Erica started. "You wanna tell me what happened to him?"

"I told you," I said in between sobs. "Somebody kicked him."

Erica took a long look at me, stroking me at my back at the same time. Slowly, I calmed down.

"Now, what are you hiding from me?" Erica asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Fluffy got kicked by mistake and that's all.

"And that's what scared you so much?" Erica asked. "You know I don't buy it," she added. I looked at her.

"I'm okay," I said.

"Em, there's something going on. I know it. People are whispering about it. Hunting parties don't always make it, not all of them. And there are rumors about prisoners. And now you, all in state of shock and unable to care for a patient? I don't care he's your cat, you are never not able to take care of a patient. So, let me ask you one more time. What is going on?"

"Nothing," I repeated.

"You don't wanna tell me, fine," Erica answered, standing up. "But don't treat me like I'm stupid."

I looked at her, feeling defeated and hopeless. She looked back, angry, but her face softened after a minute.

"I can't," I whispered. I wasn't sure she understood, but she nodded.

"I have to finish tests," she answered and turned away. I knew she was talking about the blood tests that were mandatory for all of us. I had one the day before, and, as most of us, turned out to have deficiency in vitamin D. All the rest, though, was getting better. They were also testing blood pressure and eyesight, both of which I had in perfect shape. At least a day before. I wondered what my blood pressure would tell know. Off the charts, probably.

Fluffy was fine, like Erica said nothing happened to him. I didn't come back to the prisoners that day, though. I went there the next day, didn't even say "hello" to the guards. They acknowledged me by nodding, but didn't say anything, either. I approached the prisoners to see that both were unconscious. It made me sad to see that there were new bruises on Bianca's body, and some new cuts on her back. She didn't have cuts before. I sighed and started working. It was easier with Blase unconscious. I was sorry I couldn't talk to Bianca, though. I wanted to find out more about the world, about why she and Blase didn't like each other, about why she thought the outsiders would always hate us. I had so many questions, but I had to be patient. Her health and condition were the most important thing. Then, maybe I could slowly gain her trust. Or something that would resemble a trust.

The next few days looked pretty much the same. The life in the bunker was getting more and more organized. Each of us had our schedule, and most stuck to it. There was a lot of free time available to us, and we could book the gym for basketball, volleyball and football matches. During the day, each of us had a job to do. Our little, but growing farm needed to be watered, and looked after. Our meals had to be cooked, dished cleaned, and floors washed. All our people had to be tested every few days to see if the vital signs were improving. Mostly, they were, except for the vitamin D, though.

The hunting parties were coming back with meat and corn, and sometimes a few apples, divided carefully between us. We had one of our first fights over the apples. Some of the guys I didn't know claimed they got a piece smaller than the others. I shrugged my shoulders and didn't pay attention. Though the apples did taste great, and I could understand wanting more. I wanted more myself. The hunting parties always called out for young, strong, fit, of-age volunteers, but I figured I had more things to do. I had Bianca.

Each day after my duties in the kitchen, I went to see Bianca and Blase. I only tented to Blase when he was unconscious, which – to my dismay – happened almost every day. They seemed to be harder on him than on Bianca. At first, I thought it was because Bianca was a girl, but then I understood it was something else. Bianca wasn't aggressive towards them, and Blase was. Blase was aggressive towards me, too, and even Bianca. That's why I avoided him if I could. Sometimes, he would scream at Bianca if she said too much to me about the world outside. Once, he yelled at her that she was giving all of them away to the enemy, just as she did when they were torturing her.

"You're just weak, like every Reikre," he told her. "No wonder one of you is the traitor. Always sooo weak, talking about karma and all this bullshit," he added, spitting in our general direction. I learned to avoid sitting between Bianca and Blase, so his spits never reached me again. He wasn't strong enough to reach, Bianca, either.

"And you would kill your own father, if your clan told you to, just to prove you're strong," Bianca answered.

"If my father let me kill him, that means he's weak as well, so he deserves to die," Blase answered. I shrugged, feeling this cold inside, that I had felt a few times already since waking up. Bianca didn't answer.

"Is this true?" I asked her. "Would he really kill his own father?"

"Yes, Em, his tribe is like that."

"She is not your friend!" Blase screamed at her.

"It's wrong," Bianca answered. "It's all wrong!"

"What is?" I asked.

"What is going on outside. They all hate you," Bianca answered. I felt excited, I had a chance to find out something that mattered.

"Why?"

"That's such a stupid question, only one of undergrounders could ask that!" Blase answered.

"Because you stole from us," Bianca said. "Not from Reikre, but from other tribes. The barley your brought? That belongs to somebody, as well as the nuts. You are invaders."

"We didn't even know that!" I exclaimed. "Tell me where we can go, where we can live, and we'll do it."

"Do you really believe that, Emily? That people from this bunker will just leave? I don't know what's after the habited places, but this is our land, and we are not letting you live here. You closed the doors on our ancestors, leaving them outside and killing them. We had to fight each other, to finally establish our boundaries. And, there's the capital that controls it all. What do you have to offer to the capital? Nothing. The only peaceful way for you is to leave, go far away, but I doubt that anyone here would be willing to do it."

This was the longest and probably most useful of everything Bianca had ever said to me. Blase just snorted, but somehow, he didn't disturb her. I was fascinated by what she was saying.

"Then we'll go," I said to Bianca. "I can get some people and convince them to leave. If not everybody, then maybe at least some of them. Do you think we can make it?"

"I don't know," Bianca shook her head. "I don't know what's out there. Only…" she stopped.

"What?"

Bianca hesitated for a moment. "Nothing," she said. "I know nothing."

I was sure she was lying, but I decided not to push.

The self-defense class didn't have anything more to offer, and the kickboxing class was run by me, so the only thing I had to get better at was shooting. And general condition of my body. That meant working out twice a day, and an hour per day practicing shooting. Milton and Kazuo were always with me during shooting practice, and ten days after I began helping Bianca and Blase, they asked me to come with them after the practice.

"I can't, guys, I'm sorry," I said.

"Oh, come on," Milton insisted. "You are always running somewhere after our practice and you don't tell anybody where you're going. Please… we miss ya!"

"Don't you have any girls you might be interested in?" I asked, taking off the headphones.

"Pffff. You know there's nobody interesting in this bunker. Maybe except for Iliana, but she's soooo out of our league."

"Oh, come on, guys, I think you're cool. Iliana would be happy to have you. Any girl would be happy to have you. Any of you."

"Not Iliana," Kazuo spoke for the first time today. "She's… something different. Not sure what Milton sees in her."

I laughed when I saw that Milton was actually getting red. Iliana was the daughter of president of Montana, she was tall and had long legs and big breast. Her face was nice, as well, but I always thought about her legs when I saw her. Probably because she was always wearing short skirts.

"Come on, Em, let's go. We'll show you something," Milton pleaded. "You're going to like it."

I smiled. "Did you guys find some pot or something?"

"Unfortunately, not yet. But, we got something you'll like. Come on, let's go."

I pondered for a minute. My dad didn't tell me I had to be with the prisoners every day, and it wasn't so bad the day before. Also, I missed my friends. Erica was busy at the hospital, I was busy on the practice and with Bianca and Blase. The only time I saw Milton and Kazuo was during shooting practice, and the only time I saw Erica was during meals, and upon waking up and going to bed. We didn't even talk after Fluffy got hurt and she told me she knew I was hiding something.

"Okay, let's go," I said to Milton and Kazuo.

"Yeees! Score!" Milton exclaimed, and they gave each other a high five. I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

They led me to one of the rooms that were there for "Recreation." I knew some of them had books, some music and some paintings. We could paint, read, and relax in the evenings, if we wanted to. I looked through them at the beginning but was too worried about Bianca and the world outside to enjoy hanging out in these rooms.

The room they led me to was long, but empty, except for a black machine in the corner and a big TV screen on the wall, next to the machine. There were also two desks and a few chairs on the opposite side of the room.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This, my dear," Milton answered, turning the machine on. "Is a karaoke machine!"

I laughed.

"You're serious?"

"Yep! Pick your poison," he said. I picked _Little talks_ and started singing immediately. Milton and Kazuo didn't join me. Instead, they poured some liquid in the glassed behind my back and made a toast. I barely noticed it. Anytime I could sing, I was lost to the world. It was the best relaxation I could ever dream of.

Milton and Kazuo started clapping when I was done.

"Beautiful as always," Kazuo said. "Want some of this?"

I approached them; they were sitting at one of the tables now and drinking some light brown liquid.

"What is this?"

"Rum, my dear."

"You're kidding me!"

"Nope, just try it."

I took the glass Kazuo handed me and sniffed the liquid. "It really is rum," I said, and drank it all down. They both laughed. "Pour me another one," I said, pulling the glass. They did when I asked for, and this time I took only a sip.

By the fourth song ( _Funhouse_ , P!nk) all three of us were completely drank. Milton and Kazuo joined me in karaoke by the fifth song ( _Livin' on a Prayer,_ Bon Jovi _)_ and we finished another five and the whole bottle of whiskey by the time we decided we had enough. We laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt. Well, at least mine did. We lay on the floor and looked at the ceiling.

"Do you ever imagine the ceiling is the sky and there are stars in it?" Milton asked.

"Never," Kazuo said.

"Every night," I said at the same time, which made us all laugh again.

"I'm glad we did that," I said.

"Me, too," Kazuo answered.

I sighed. Suddenly, I felt this strong urge to tell them about Bianca and Blase. I closed my eyes and thought about the stars and the moon and the fresh air I felt when I was outside.

"I want to go out again," Kazuo said.

"Is this why you're learning to shoot so hard?" I asked him.

"Yes," he answered. We got quiet for a while.

"Emily, what are you hiding from us?" Milton asked after a long time of silence. "We know we are hiding something, so please don't deny it," he added.

"I can't tell you," I said. "I'm so sorry."

I didn't feel like laughing now, I felt like crying.

"Is it so bad?"

"Yes, it is," I answered. I thought for a while that maybe they got me drank on purpose. I wouldn't have said this if I was sober. I didn't care, though. "It's really, really bad."

"Emily, you have to tell us. Maybe we can help you," Kazuo said.

"No, I can't," I said with my eyes still closed. I was feeling sleepy all of a sudden. "I can't tell anybody. My dad made me swear it."

"Well, if you change your mind, you know you can trust us, right?" Kazuo asked.

"Yes, I know. I know. Thank you," I said, and fell asleep.

"I missed you yesterday," Bianca said when I came to her the next day.

"Really?" I asked. "I'm sorry, I… My friends wanted to do me a favor and showed me a karaoke machine. We spent the evening singing."

"What's a karaoke machine?"

"It's this thing that plays the melody of a song and shows you the words so you can sing them."

"Can you sing?"

"That's what I've been told," I said.

"Can you sing now?" she asked. I smiled.

"I wouldn't want to wake Blase up," I said.

"Maybe one day, when we're both outside you can sing to me," Bianca whispered.

"How?" I asked, my heart pounding. "How can we go outside? Together?"

"My clan… it's not like the rest of them. Well, it is, but it's more open to peace. We've been fighting for a long time and we have enough. Maybe you could meet them? My friend could… I mean if you'd like. If not, there's one more way…"

"Bianca, if there is any way of establishing peace, I need to know about it."

"But as I told you, you would have to leave. But if you decide to leave, and won't attack, maybe we could get my clan to help you leave in peace. We could show you the way, we could ensure nobody attacks you."

"And why would you do that?"

"You know you're killing us, don't you?"

My stomach jumped to my throat and back. I swallowed.

"I had a feeling."

"So now you know."

"And if this doesn't work? What's the other way?"

"You can go with me. Far away. There's a group of people, they are isolationists. They will have us."

"All of us?"

Bianca shook her head. "Just us. Me and you. Maybe some of your friends, too. But they would have to swear not to fight or kill, these are their rules."

I nodded.

"Okay," I said. "First, let me talk to my dad about peace."

"No! Just you," Bianca said. "Find my friend, she can arrange a meeting with the leader. Only then you can tell your dad, okay?"

I nodded.

"What do I have to do?" I asked.


	6. The Meeting

Chapter Six

The meeting

As soon as Kazuo and Milton heard I was going out again, they decided to join me. That was a little complication to my plan, but I couldn't just say no to them. We went the very next day after my talk with Bianca. The hunting parties went much further away nowadays than we did the first day. We all got two guns, and two knives for protection. The aim was to go as quickly as possible, and as quietly as possible. Mrs. Waters was – again – our leader, so there was no laughing or talking. I doubted, though, that anyone would want to speak. We were all tense and we kept to each other, shushing each other if anyone stepped on a branch and made a single noise.

It was a long and tiring hike, but I still enjoyed the warm sun on my skin, the air and all the colors of the Earth. I picked up a bunch of glittering flowers on my way, careful to only pick those with each petal in a different color, as Bianca had instructed me. I was sorry to do that, I thought flowers belonged to the meadow, the Earth; when picked up, they were already dead. Erica had told me that once, and ever since then I couldn't stop thinking about it every time I saw someone picking up the flowers, or flowers in a vase.

These were, however, meant for a higher purpose. I would use them as a sign for Bianca's friend.

After a whole day of walking, not attacked by everyone, and with only one break, we finally got to rest. As soon as it got dark, we lay down, ate, and tried to fall asleep. I volunteered for the first watch. There were two guys with me on the watch, so that would present a problem, but I knew where to go – I got lucky we were going in the exact direction where Bianca advised, otherwise I would have to just have a lonely, unauthorized walk into the woods by myself. So, as soon as I heard gentle snores around me, and I did a quick inventory of people laying on the ground, I approached the other guard.

"Hey," I said to him. It was a guy a little older than me. He seemed scared. "It seems okay, and I need to pee, could I leave you for five minutes?" I asked.

"No, no, no," he whispered. "They attack when we sleep."

"This has happened to you?" I asked.

"Yes, once. My friend died. He had to take a leak, like you, and he was gone."

I swallowed, feeling my stomach up my throat. This cold fright was getting to me again. I couldn't let it ruin the mission.

"It will be okay," I said. "I will be gone for just five minutes," I added, though it was an obvious lie. I was sorry for the guy, whose name I didn't even know. He will be terrified when he finds out I am away more than five minutes. This couldn't be helped, though. They wouldn't let me go on my own. I was starting to feel maybe it was better if I DID have a lonely, unauthorized walk on the ground, and NOT involve the seven people that were with me on that excursion. It was too late now, and I wasn't going to wait for another day.

"If you end up dead, remember that I warned you," the guy said. It made completely no sense, but I nodded.

"Sure. Thanks," I said, and turned away. "Hey," I added, turning back. "What's your name?"

"Peter," he answered. "And you're Emily. The girl with the cat."

"Wow," I said. "I would never say anyone would know my name just like that."

"Well, they do," Peter said. "You're sort of famous," he added. "And your cat is, too. You be careful, okay? And with the cat, too. Not everyone… likes cats."

I frowned, but I didn't ask. I didn't have time for it. "Okay, thanks," I said, and went into the bushes.

I knew I had to focus on finding the right cave, but I couldn't stop thinking about Fluffy. Why would Peter warn me about Fluffy? Who would want to harm Fluffy? Would anyone? Was my cat in danger somehow, if yes, why the hell? I didn't hear about anybody allergic to cats in the bunker, so that couldn't have been the reason. I had to ask Peter about it when we're back home.

I was so pre-occupied with worrying about my cat, that I almost missed the cave. When I reached the caves, after having walked for what seemed like an hour, I realized they looked pretty much the same. There were three of them, in distance from each other of about five meters. I had to look for the smallest one, with a blue rock right at the entrance. It was hard to say which one was the smallest, so I decided to search for the rock. I entered the first cave, but there was nothing there. I entered the second one, but I didn't find the rock, either. What I did find, though, was evidence that this wasn't just some random cave. Somebody must have been using it from time to time. There was a lit torch, some pots, and some leaves. There were also two blankets and some coal. I took a few tentative steps deeper into the cave, and I turned my flashlight on and I saw the most amazing thing on the walls. These were drawings. One presented a man, and another a woman. There were also pictures of the animals: a horse, a dog, a sheep, and some others I didn't recognize. I stood there in awe for a few minutes, when I heard a quiet sound coming from behind me. I turned around, quickly and took out my gun.

"Freeze!" I screamed, though even to me it sounded silly. I thought I saw a moving figure, so I lit the entrance to the cave with the flashlight, and I saw him. It was a guy my age. He put his arms up and spoke.

"Emily, it's me," and I realized it was Kazuo. He must have followed me here, and I never noticed. I put down the gun.

"What the fuck, Kazuo? You were following me?"

"Sure I was, how else would I know what was going on with you?"

"Kazuo…"

"Emily! What the fuck are you doing? You could have been killed a thousand times on that little trip of yours."

"I had to take that risk," I said quietly.

"Why?"

"I just had to," I said even more quietly.

And then I told him, just like that, breaking the promise I gave to my father. I told him about Bianca, about Blase, about my dad and the third prisoner, the one I never met, because they had killed him before they brought me in there. I told Kazuo about my plan, to try to make peace with the Earthians, and about everything Bianca had told me about the world we were living in. Kazuo didn't interrupt me, he just listened to everything I said with a serious, focused face. I was grateful that it was Kazuo, and not Milton that had followed me. Later it turned out they had a discussion about it, but decided it was better if Kazuo went after me, cause Milton was too emotional. It was good to know he was aware of that, and it was good to have Kazuo with me, a calm, soothing, quiet Kazuo. I felt both relieved and guilty over telling him all this, but for the time being relief was winning.

"Okay," Kazuo said when I finished. "What if it doesn't work and they kill you?"

"I have to try," I said. "I just have to. You didn't see them… They are… they have new wounds or cuts almost every day. I'm not even sure what they… we are trying to do, what we… are trying to establish with this torture. And if I have a chance to end this, I'll take it, even if it kills me."

Kazuo nodded. We looked at each other, and then, not saying a word, we both started going to the third cave. There it was, a small, blue rock just at the entrance. I took it in my hands and admired it for a second. Then I formed the flowers I had brought in the letter "B" and put the rock in the upper circle of my "B." I looked at it for a second and turned to Kazuo.

"Do you know these are supposed to bring good luck?" I said, getting up. "Sort of like a four-leave clover back in our times. I wonder if they have them still somewhere."

"Did Bianca tell you that?"

"About the flowers with all different petals? Yes, she did," I answered.

"And you trust her?"

"She wouldn't lie to me about a thing like flowers bringing luck," I said, smiling. Kazuo didn't smile back.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

"I know," I said. "And I don't know. If I trust her. But I'm trying to, and right now, she's the only chance we've got. Otherwise, we are all going to kill each other," I said. "Again," I added.

Kazuo sighed.

"Okay, then. I'll help you," he promised.

"And you won't tell Milton?"

"I won't," he answered. "I swear," he added, and this time he smiled. I smiled back and we went on our journey back to the camp.

It turned out everybody was up by the time we got back, looking for us. I had a story prepared about how I got lost, but Kazuo found me, and saved me from a big, brown, hairy animal we didn't have back when we were living on Earth. Mrs. Waters nodded a few times, and said that she knew what I was talking about. They had already encountered this animal and killed it. Its meat was sour and took hours to cook. Next time, they would just take its fur, and freeze the meat. We couldn't afford, she went on to say, to waste any meat, but for now we had tastier meat to cook. Tastier, and easier to cook. Like squirrels and rabbits. During her speech, Milton and Kazuo were standing by each of my sides, holding my hands. When Mrs. Waters stopped talking, she hugged me briefly, and said she was happy she didn't have to bring my father the bad news. For a second there, I thought I might actually like her, when she hugged me, that is, but then she said that line about my dad, and I rolled my eyes. Good thing it was dark, so nobody saw it. I was grateful to her, though. She did so much of the talking, I didn't have to add anything else. The others came closer to me and patted me on my back, but that was it. Maybe they were used to such adventures on their trips.

When we moved on to hunt, I wanted to go with Peter. I wanted to know why he would say this about Fluffy earlier, but Peter was a quiet companion. He kept on shushing me every time I tried to start talking about Fluffy. We were using arrows and knives for hunting, because they made less noise than guns. Peter caught two rabbits and a squirrel, before I managed to kill a bird. And only because it was sitting on a branch. Its small, helpless body fell on the ground, and I got to it.

"Nice job," Peter whispered. I shook my head.

"Is there something else I could do?"

"Don't worry, you'll get better at hunting."

"It's not that. I just…" I said, looking at the bird, and then the sack where Peter kept the hunted squirrel and rabbit.

"You're sorry you have to kill them?" Peter asked me, and then we heard a sudden movement next to us. I looked in that direction.

"We just startled a prey," Peter said. "No more talking! You go and pick up the nuts, then. I'll do the hunting."

I did as I was told to, feeling relived, but also feeling like a hypocrite. I will be eating the meat the hunters bring, anyway, but I couldn't force myself to hunt for it. It was easy to be a vegetarian in my old life, everything was available in the stores and I didn't have to worry about protein or minerals, or even vitamin D or B. Now, we had to eat meat to survive. It was that simple. Somehow, though, it didn't feel right to kill rabbits or squirrels or birds, or even foxes. I could understand bigger animals, they could hurt us, but smaller ones? They just wanted to go around their day, like everyone else, and yet they kept on being prey. It seemed so unfair.

 _Never mind,_ I thought to myself, _You've got bigger problems to think about._

Picking up the nuts turned out to be a lot easier than killing animals, though now I knew the truth, I felt like a thief. Well, to be honest, I was a thief, but what else could I do? We had to eat. I wanted this whole mess to be over. I wanted to go somewhere far away, where I didn't have to worry about stealing, or killing animals. I wanted to go back to my old world, where I could eat tofu and buy nuts in a store. That was impossible now, so I had to get a grip on myself, and continue picking up the nuts.

We were lucky and nobody attacked us on our trip, neither on the way back. Next time, though, I decided to sneak out of the bunker, take Kazuo with me, and go alone to meet Bianca's friend. We had to establish a day to meet, so that meant another two or three trips at least. It was going to be tiring and dangerous, but I figured it was worth it.

The worst problem, as it turned out, with going out proved to be finding an excuse to be away from my father, Erica and Scott, Milton, and everybody else. Kazuo promised me he didn't tell Milton a word I said about Bianca and Blase, and we told Milton I was sick and probably contagious. I couldn't tell the same thing to Erica or my dad, so I told Erica I was meeting Kazuo for a "authorized karaoke party", and asked her to not tell my dad and be my cover in case my dad asks where I was. I warned her that I would be on that party for a whole day, taking a break from my duties – we could do that once in a while – cause I was tired. She was concerned, but I promised I was okay, and just needed a break.

She didn't buy it. She didn't buy any of it.

It was childishly easy to get out of the bunker unnoticed. Fluffy got out with us, and though I wasn't too happy about it, it also felt comforting to have him with me. Or at least would be, if he stayed with me. I usually didn't worry about him, but recently I thought that with us hunting all the time somebody might shoot him by accident. But cats will be cats, I wasn't able to keep him inside all the time. I could only hope he would be fine.

We went out in the middle of the night, when Erica, Scott and my dad were fast asleep. We didn't have much time, so we didn't make any stops, just kept on walking and walking in the same direction that the few days before. There were only two of us and we didn't say a word to each other, so it took us faster than when we were with the hunting party. It was just after sunrise when we reached the caves. We saw it right as we entered our cave. Right next to the blue stone there was a big "Y" comprised from the different-colored flowers, just as I had used them. I shrieked with joy, but soon shut up. I looked under the stone, and saw a piece of yellow paper under there. Somehow, it made me feel relieved and glad that people were still using paper in this world. There was just one thing on it – "12."

"What does that mean?" Kazuo asked.

"I have no idea," I answered.

"Didn't Bianca explain anything to you?"

"She said I would get a message back, if the answer was "Y" for yes. If it was „N" for „No," that would mean I had to run away and never come back. I have no idea what this number means. Maybe 12 o'clock? But midday? Midnight? I don't know."

We looked at the piece of paper for a while, turning it back and forth to each other. Then, we looked under the blue rock again, and around it. There was nothing more. We searched the whole cave, then, but still nothing. No picture drawn on the wall, no other piece of paper, no object, or flower. Nothing.

"Fuck!" I yelled, when we gave up and sat down. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

"Hey, hey, Emily. Stop," Kazuo said, holding me by the arms. "We have to be careful."

"There's nobody here, or else they would have come before."

"Are you sure about that?" we heard a voice from the opening of the cave. We both jumped up and took our guns out. "Hey, hey!" the woman at the front of the gate said. "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to meet my friend. Who are you?"

"A friend? Are you Bianca's friend?" I asked, still holding out my gun.

"Bianca? You know Bianca?" the girl asked.

"What's going on?" Kazuo asked.

"It's okay, it's her!" I said.

We looked at one another for a while. I took my gun down, but Kazuo didn't want to do the same. I was so happy to finally be talking to Bianca's friend, and it didn't even take more trips. This was it. This was my chance.

"Are you from the bunker?" Bianca's friend asked us.

"Yes," I said. "I'm Emily, and this is my friend Kazuo."

"And where is Bianca?"

"She's… with us… I mean, my people."

"What do you mean she's with you?" the girl asked in a louder voice, taking a step towards us.

"Don't move!" Kazuo yelled.

"Where is my friend?!" the girl yelled in response, but she stopped. She must have heard about what the guns could do. I never saw or heard about the Earthians using guns, only knives and arrows.

"Calm down!" I yelled, and to my surprise it worked. Both Kazuo and the girl shut up. "What's your name?" I asked the girl.

"Saskia. Where is my friend?" she answered. "What are you doing to her? She didn't just come voluntarily, I know she didn't. She was on her way to Nadia, and now you're telling me she's in the bunker?"

"Who's Nadia?" I asked.

"What's going on with Bianca?" Saskia yelled again. _This is going nowhere,_ I thought.

"Okay, calm down. Bianca's with us, she's fine. She sent me… us. She trusts me," I said. I didn't tell Bianca that I was taking Kazuo with me, I didn't see the point. Hopefully, this little lie will not get out.

"Why did she send you? Why didn't she just come?"

"Because… she's our prisoner…" I started, but Saskia interrupted me.

"A prisoner?!" she shouted.

"Please, calm down. I know this is hard, but…"

"Calm down? What are you doing with my friend?"

I thought that she had a lot of nerve, standing there in front of us, with a gun being pointed at her, and yelling. I admired her for this. I didn't think I would be able to do this, I was never that brave.

"Saskia, we came here because Bianca asked us to. We're trying to help her," I said as calmly as I could. "We want to establish peace, so we need to know who we can talk to about this."

"Peace? Do you really think we will be at peace with someone who kidnapped and imprisoned one of us?"

I thought that it was for the best that Saskia didn't know how we were treating our prisoners. I decided not to tell her.

"Not everybody supports this," I said. "I can get them to negotiate. Both of our sides are losing people, this can't go on forever, I don't want anybody else to die," I said. Maybe it worked on some level with Saskia, cause she stopped yelling. She stopped talking all together, and just stood there, thinking. I didn't want to rush her, and Kazuo didn't speak at all since he threatened Saskia.

"What are your terms?" Saskia asked.

"I… don't really know. We can release the prisoners, we can promise not to kill anybody, we can talk about where we can leave and grow our crops. We just want to, you know, live."

"Prisoners? How many do you have?"

"Just one more," I answered, not sure if I was doing the right thing. "But he's not Reikre. He's some other tribe."

"Okay," the girl said. "We can arrange a meeting with our leader. He will talk only in the name of Reikre, I can't promise anything about other clans."

"All right," I said. I didn't think of it. Bianca said we didn't steal from Reikre, but from other clans. Even if we established peace with one clan, what would happen with the rest of them? But maybe that was a good beginning. Maybe we needed to make peace with at least one of them, and they will help us reach the rest. Or tell us where to go, where we will not disturb anybody, and still be able to live. I decided to leave this to my father and other presidents to think about.

"Okay. When do you want to meet?" I asked.

"The day after tomorrow at noon. You must come, and your leader. Nobody else. And no weapons. Understood?"

"Yes," I said.

"And no weapons," Saskia repeated.

"Yes," I promised. "No weapons."

"See you in two days, then."

"Wait!" I called after her. She turned around and looked at me. "Who's Nadia?"

Saskia pondered for a while before she answered.

"She's the leader of the clan that lives far away. It takes a few days by horse to get there, and it's dangerous. She accepts people in need," Saskia answered. Before I had time to ask anything more, she turned away and disappeared.


	7. The aftermath

Chapter Seven

The Aftermath

On our way back, I wondered for a moment if Nadia was somehow connected to the place Bianca had told me about. But then I had more important things to think about. Like, what the hell I had just done. There were so many things that could go wrong. My dad could not agree with my plan, nor the president. I could be walking us to a trap. They could talk and not agree to anything. They could not agree to release Bianca, or worse, they could hurt her. We didn't talk, neither I or Kazuo, for almost the whole journey.

I worried about Fluffy, too. He came with us to the caves, but wandered away, tired of us looking for God knew what in the cave. He found us on our way back, as I knew he would, and kept with us for the most part. Somehow, we lost him again, though. I kept on looking for him, but Kazuo convinced me we had to go back, and that cats always found their ways. I had to let it go. I had to leave Fluffy on the outside, hoping that he would come back and wait till someone goes out and lets him inside.

When we got inside the bunker, before going into separate directions to our rooms, Kazuo said that he hoped this would work, and that he admired me for trying.

"Thank you," I said. "And thanks for coming with me," I added.

Kazuo smiled. "Well, otherwise I wouldn't have met Saskia," he said.

I laughed. "Good-night," I said to him.

I entered my room with Fluffy still on my mind. At least that took away all the worrying about the conversation I had to have with my dad, and then with the president the next day.

It turned out I didn't have to wait till the next day. Neither my dad, nor Erica, nor Scott were asleep. They were all waiting for me.

"Hey, guys," I said. "You didn't have to wait up," I tried joking, but their faces were so serious, I knew that something was wrong.

"They know," Erica said.

"They know… about my karaoke party?" I asked Erica.

"They know that there wasn't any party. Kazuo was nowhere to be found, and Milton said you were sick. I know for sure you are not sick. So, where were you?"

There was no point lying now. I would have to tell my dad anyway the next day. I didn't want Erica or Scott to be involved, not just yet, at least, but what was done can't be undone. So, I told them everything. I told them Kazuo and I went outside and we met a girl in the cave, and we set-up a meeting where we could talk about peace. I said they would be willing to negotiate if only we promised not to attack them, or steal from them, and if we promised to let the prisoners go.

As I was speaking I could see they didn't like the idea. They weren't happy or relieved that I found a way to stop the bloodshed that was going on since we woke up. Instead, Erica and my dad looked pissed, so pissed as I had never seen them before. As I continued speaking, my voice was becoming quieter and quieter, and I was feeling less and less confident. When I finished there was a moment of silence. And then my dad yelled. "Are you out of your mind?" and I knew this was too good to be true.

"I'm sorry, dad," I whispered. "I just want this to stop. The wars ended the world before, and I…"

"Erica, Scott, could you leave us for a moment?" my dad asked them, interrupting me. Erica left, not looking at me, but Scott gave me a reassuring smile, or at least something that I hoped to be a reassuring smile. I felt a little bit better knowing that at least one of them didn't hate me totally.

"Where did you get that idea from?" my dad asked, as soon as Erica and Scott were gone. "Is this coming from Bianca?"

Somehow, I was surprised that my dad knew Bianca's name.

I nodded.

"Honey, Bianca is our prisoner, of course she would say anything so we could let her go," my dad said in a soothing voice. Maybe I should be glad that at least he wasn't yelling, but the soothing voice was worse. It meant that he was treating me like a child, and that he considered what I'd done a crazy, childish thing.

"Dad," I said, trying to remain calm. "Please, listen to me. What we are doing is wrong. We are torturing these people. And they were only defending themselves. You have no idea…"

"I have some idea," my dad interrupted me again. "I know, for one, that the president will never agree to this. He wants all the savages gone."

"What… do you mean?" I asked, though this was pretty obvious. The president didn't see the Earthians as people, he wanted to win this war, and wasn't interested in peace.

"Emily, honey, the presidents think, and a lot of people agree with them, that these people outside… they are not people anymore. They turned into animals, monsters, and there is no coming back from that. They can't be saved. They will always want to kill us."

I was shocked to hear that from my own dad. So shocked that the fear I had, all the doubts, and the respect towards my dad, the president, were gone in an instant.

"You can't share this belief," I said. "I don't believe it. You were the one to teach me to always respect others. You encouraged me to do any charity work I wanted to. You encouraged me to be a doctor, because doctors can save people. You can't have changed so much."

My dad didn't answer at first.

"I'm not sure what Bianca was telling you, but she told us the ways the clans work. They are in constant war against each other, over everything. The land, the religion, the crops, the number of children the capital takes. Did you know that? That they kidnap children and teach them to be murderers? They call it the army, but it's what they really are. Murderers."

"Dad, we had armies in our time. We destroyed the world, we…"

"Yes, but we also had hospitals, and social help, and charity organizations. Do you know what they do to old and sick people? They kill them. They don't even try to heal them. You, as a doctor, should condemn such a society."

"I don't believe it. I don't believe you," I said, with tears in my eyes. I wiped them away, angry. "I thought you were different. I'm sure mom would hate what you've become!"

"Don't you dare bring mom into this!" my dad yelled. "It's your fault!" he took me by the shoulders and shook me, hard. "It's your fault that she's dead! So don't you dare talk about her!" he shook me harder, until I burst out crying. Then he let me go and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he looked at me. I looked back at him, still crying. There was anger in his eyes, but I thought I saw something else. Longing and sorrow. He didn't say anything, just opened the door to our room and went away, not closing the doors.

Erica and Scott returned immediately. Erica didn't seem as angry as before. She looked at me, still crying and shaking, but didn't say a word. Scott came to me and hugged me for a short time.

"I admire you, kiddo," he said. "I hope it works," he added. I nodded, and he let me go. I lay on my bed and tried to fall asleep.

I hadn't slept much that night, and when I did, I dreamt of Bianca being tortured. I woke up, sweaty and breathing heavily. I didn't want to go for breakfast. I wasn't hungry, but mostly I just didn't want to meet my dad again. I forced myself to get up, though, washed and got dressed. Then, I went for breakfast.

The dining hall was as usual, bursting with talking and some laughing. The children were going from a table to a table, chasing one another. I looked at it and felt almost angry that they were so playful and so blissfully unaware of what was going on under this floor.

"Hey, beautiful," Milton came from behind me and greeted me. "You should have told me, I would have come with you," he added.

"So, you know?"

He nodded. "I know everything. I know about Bianca and about Saskia, Kazuo's new love," he said, as he saw Kazuo approaching. "I am a little disappointed you didn't tell me sooner."

"But just a little?" I mocked.

"Could you stop talking about me?" Kazuo asked, taking his seat at the table. I exchanged looks with Milton and smiled at him. He winced in reply and joined Kazuo at his table. I went to face my dad, already sitting at our table.

"Good morning, Emily," he said in a toneless voice, when he saw me. "We need to talk after the meal," he added, in the same tone.

I didn't have appetite this morning, and my dad's words made it even worse. I forced myself to eat, though, fighting to swallow every bite and not throw it back. These weren't the times, though, when we could afford not eating. The meals were three times a day, and if you missed one, it was your loss, you wouldn't get anything to eat by the next meal's time. And I knew the importance of proteins and vitamins, carefully selected to keep us in the best shape. Eating stopped being a pleasure, it was a necessity now. And I wasn't stupid, I promised myself to keep my body in the best possible shape, and that was what I was going to keep on doing.

Although it took me an extremely long time to eat that morning, breakfast came to an end eventually and it was time to talk to my dad. He took me to our room, empty now, for Erica and Scott had their things to do. He started with apologizing. He said that it wasn't fair of him to blame me for my mother's death. I didn't answer. I didn't want to admit that essentially, he was right. It was my fault that my mom was dead, and I will never forgive myself for this.

"Emily, I think you are right," my dad added after a minute of very uncomfortable silence. "We shouldn't become like this. Bianca and Blase are human beings, and what they're doing to them, it is unhuman."

"I'm glad you see it that way," I said in the same toneless voice he used during breakfast.  
And daddy," I added. "I'm… I'm sorry I caused mom's death," I said despite myself. It just came out. "I'm so sorry. I know it's my fault. I shouldn't have trusted Steve, I should not have told him. Sometimes I speak too much, and I trust people and…"

I stopped. I thought that this was true. I was always too trusting. Maybe I was wrong to trust Bianca, as well?

"It's okay. I forgave you," he answered. "And I love you, I know you have your mother's big heart, but sometimes I worry it may get you to trouble, especially in these times, when you can't trust anybody…" he broke off. We kept silent for a while.

"I can't talk to the president," he started again after a long pause. "But I am willing to give it a go. So, I decided to go there myself," he added.

It was no point convincing him otherwise. He said the president would never agree to my plan, and that it was too risky. I reluctantly agreed, though I had this heavy feeling inside. I guess it was fear, and doubt, and some desire to just go into bed, cover myself with a soft blanket and not have to face any danger anymore, ever. Or even any people, ever.

That was impossible, though, so I took my grip and prepared for the trip that was ahead of us. We took guns, of course. Even though Saskia said no guns, we had to be prepared, it was a long road ahead of us. I was going to ask them to leave the guns hidden somewhere before we went into the cave, but that was for later. Right now, we packed our meals, guns, and blankets, and went. Kazuo, Milton, my dad and me, on a secret mission, deep into the forest, and further away.

We got lucky. We were only attacked once by the big tiger-panther, the kind we met on my first day on Earth, a few weeks ago. Milton killed it in one shot, and then we hid the body under a big, bushy tree that had branches all down to the ground. We added some more branches on the top, and I thought that was a terrible cover, but we didn't have time to dig a hole or plan anything better. Time was running out.

We took only one break for a short nap. I didn't feel rested at all after it, but we had to go. Finally, we reached the caves. I led my dad into the still empty cave and told Milton to wait outside and hide – after all Saskia was not expecting anybody but Kazuo, me and the leader. We waited for a while, it couldn't have been more than 5 or 10 minutes, but seemed like forever. I could almost hear my father's thoughts; he was asking me in his mind where the hell they were, and what if this is just a trap to kill the leader of the bunker people? He didn't say a word, though, and neither did I or Kazuo.

They entered the room slowly, eying us from the start. I took a good look at them. Saskia came with the leader, and their appearance could be interesting or funny, if I wasn't too scared something might go wrong. The guy, whom I assumed to be the leader of Reikre, was tall and broad, very muscular. He looked about 30, or maybe even 40 years old, it was hard to say. He had shoulder-length, dark wavy hair and a beard. He didn't smile, his expression was inscrutable. Saskia looked really petite and vulnerable next to him. He must have been like 25 centimeters taller than she was. Saskia looked very pretty, though. She was dressed in a dark blue shirt and black pants made of some material. Maybe wool, maybe cotton, I was never good at that kind of stuff. She put her long, chestnut hair in an elaborate hair-do made of braids and fastened around her head with hair-clips. She was also hard to read, but I could see her gaze shifting from me to Kazuo, and back to me.

"So," the man finally spoke. "You're the leader of the people who hid under the ground and left us all to die."

I gasped. This was not the greatest beginning, I thought.

"Yes, I'm Francesco Alvarez. And what do they call you?" my dad answered, in his most official tone.

"I am August, leader of Reikre."

"Let us begin, then," my dad said.

"Okay, let's make it quick," August said. "We can leave you in peace under these conditions: you go out of our land, far away, and you return the prisoners to us, unharmed."

I shivered at the "unharmed" part, but my dad remained calm.

"Well, here are our conditions. We can give you the prisoners back, but we are not leaving."

"Then we have nothing to talk about," August said.

"No, wait, please," I said to August, as he was just about to leave. Saskia didn't make a move, though, so I figured maybe there was hope. "Daddy, "I turned to my dad. "Please maybe you can…"

"He's your dad?" Saskia spoke.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters, because Bianca apparently trusted the daughter of the leader of those who are killing us. Either that, or you are lying."

"If I was lying, how do you think I would know how to get to you? How would I know about the blue rock?" I said, wondering why August and my dad were allowing this.

"I don't know. I only know I want my friend back," Saskia said.

"Okay, let's talk about this, please," my dad interrupted us. "Please, Mr. August, there must be a way for us to leave next to each other, without killing one another."

"You don't understand how this world works, do you? You don't understand you're not the one in charge here. We were fighting for years and years to get to this place. Each of all the clans have their own role, their own land, and their own share to give to the capital. We are not able to share with anybody new. We are barely scraping on our own. So, if you don't leave, we are going to fight you. And we will win, because we know this land better."

"But Bianca said we didn't steal from you," I said.

"Not yet, but you're stealing from Prikra, so it's just a matter of time. Besides, it doesn't seem to matter to you who're killing, right?"

"How can it matter, if we don't know the difference between the clans?"

"It's simple. Reikre wears blue, Prikra wears red, etcetera. All six tribes have their colors. We know it all, so why can't you?"

"Because we were asleep for 142 years!" Kazuo yelled. We all looked at him, and became silent for a while.

"You know, maybe if we had someone to educate us better, then we…," I started, but I was interrupted by the horrific screams from the outside. We all ran towards the entrance of the cave, to see what was going on. There were three dead bodies on the ground, I wasn't sure who they were. And there was the same kind of animal-beast that attacked us on the way, the half-tiger, half-panther monster, and he was just running towards Mrs. Waters.

"Florentine!" my dad called after her, and I realized that was the first time I heard her first name being spoken. I took out the gun and gave five shots at the monster. It fell off Mrs. Waters, dead. My dad, Kazuo and I ran towards her to check if she was okay.

"I'm all right," she said, trying to get up.

"Hey, don't," I told her. "Stay down, you're hurt," I added. Her shoulder was a big, bloody mess and I wouldn't want to think about how much of the flesh the beast got off it, before I killed it.

Milton ran towards us, seemingly out of nowhere – I did not see him when we came out of the cave. He helped me get up, while Kazuo was holding Mrs. Waters, so she wouldn't try to get up.

"What is going on?" Milton asked me, but I didn't have time to answer.

"We said no guns!" August, leader of Reikre yelled. I looked towards him, and saw he was putting the bow and arrows from behind him.

"Stop!" my dad screamed at him, appearing before him with a pointed gun. August stopped in the middle of taking his bow from behind him.

"Don't shoot, or I'll kill them," we heard Saskia's voice. She was holding a bow with an arrow pointed at Kazuo and Mrs. Waters. Right next to my side.

"Please, everybody stop. This was supposed to be a peaceful meeting," I said in a pleading tone. Despite the terror I felt I could see in the corner of my eye more moving figures. I had no idea if they were from the bunker, or from Reikre.

"You broke the rules, and you brought guns to our meeting," August said.

"You broke arrows!" I said.

"We had to defend ourselves," he answered.

"So did we!" I exclaimed.

We didn't have time to continue this futile conversation, though. Yet again we were interrupted by screams. With a corner of my eye, I saw a figure falling down on my left. I didn't dare move.

"Run!" my dad yelled at me. I looked at Milton, still kneeling by Mrs. Waters. Then I looked at Saskia, still with a bow pointed at Kazuo. Then I saw her falling, I heard some screams, and I looked at my dad again. He also fell, so I took a gun and pointed it at Reikre's leader.

I shot two times at August, and then at moving figures to my right. I was aware that Milton started shooting, too, but I didn't have time to keep track of what he or Kazuo were doing. I kept on shooting everybody that was wearing blue. At least this is how I could know I wasn't shooting anybody from the bunker.

Not that I cared at this very moment.

The aftermath looked like a shot in the movies that they do after a battlefield. The only difference was that there were no horses and the number of people dead were smaller. I checked on my dad first, and felt for his pulse. He was unconscious, but he was still alive. So was Mrs. Waters, Kazuo, Milton, and one more guy from the bunker that apparently went after us.

"I'm so sorry," I said to my dad, kneeling in front of him, and stroking his cheek. "I really thought we had a chance." I was so scared that he might not come of it alive, that I wasn't even angry for bringing what seemed like an entire scout to come with us, without telling me. I was swinging back and forth, and crying, when I felt a gentle touch on my left shoulder.

"Emilia," the voice behind me said. I turned around, and saw the guy from the bunker, whose name I didn't know. "He's going to be okay. We have to go now."

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Jonathan," he answered. "I'm Molly's brother," he added.

For a minute I couldn't place Molly in my head. Then I remembered; it was the girl that I saved when we were waking up.

"Jonathan, could you tell me what happened?"

"That beast attacked us, we lost two men to it, and then we started shooting, and the savages came out of nowhere, and the beast attacked them. And they it went for Mrs. Waters and then you came out. It all happened so quickly…"

"Okay, but why are you here? Why is anybody here except for me and my friends and my dad?"

"You dad asked us to go, just in case, you know, for protection."

I moaned. This was exactly what Reikre didn't want us to do. Bring guns. Bring reinforcement.

But then again, they brought bows and arrows, and apparently they brought reinforcements, as well. So, whom could I blame for what happened?

Then we heard a moan coming from the other side of the "battlefield." I looked in that direction. It was Saskia. She was alive, and getting up. Jonathan reached for his gun and pointed at her.

"No," I yelled at him. "Don't shoot her!" Jonathan didn't shoot, but he also didn't take the gun down. Saskia approached us on shaky legs.

"You killed our leader," she said to me. "Do you know this means we will never be at peace with you?"

"I'm sorry. He hurt my dad. I thought he was dead," I said. Saskia didn't answer. "I'm sorry," I repeated. She still didn't say a word. Then she spat on the ground in my direction, and turned away, limping. She was hurt on her right leg and left arm, so she was holding her arm with her right hand.

"Please, let her go," I said to the guys.

"She's going to tell them what happened," Jonathan pointed out.

"I know," I said. "But they would know, anyway. Just, please, she's Bianca's friend. Let her go."

Jonathan looked at me and then towards Bianca, who didn't stop while we were talking. Milton and Kazuo were looking at Bianca leaving, as well. Nobody made a move until she disappeared behind the trees.

Only then I thought she might want to bring reinforcements with her. It was too late, tough.

"Help me get my dad," I said to Jonathan. He and Milton hurried over to him, and put him on his feet. He was slowly waking up. "You'll be okay," I told him. I wasn't sure if he was aware of what I said.

Kazuo helped Mrs. Waters and we started a very slow walk home.


	8. The Decision

Chapter Eight

The decision

Erica's rule has always been that the family members shouldn't operate on other family members, so she kept me away from my dad when she and the other medics were tending to him. He was shot on his leg, and lost a lot of blood, and Erica said it was a miracle he was still alive. It must have been a miracle any of us was alive, and back safely to the bunker. My dad was going to be fine, though, eventually. The relief I felt was nothing I had ever experienced. I already lost one of my parents, I couldn't imagine losing another one.

Even though I felt so relieved that my dad was going to be all right, I didn't want to go and talk to him. I had no idea what to tell him. I didn't want to see Bianca, either. Kazuo and Milton sat with me, waiting for my dad's operation to be over, but once it was, I told them I needed some time alone. Mrs. Waters was going to be fine, too, so I felt I had no reason to be in the hospital ward anymore. So, I got out and started looking for Fluffy. I felt remorse that I had forgotten him for a few days. I realized I actually had not seen my cat during last few days, and I couldn't even remember how many. Three, maybe four. So, I started going and asking anybody I could think of if they had seen him, but nobody seemed to know anything about Fluffy. Some of the people I asked even turned their gazes away, as if not wanting to look at me or think about my cat. I even found Peter, the one who told me to be careful with Fluffy, and asked him. He also avoided looking me in the eye when he said that he had no idea where my cat was. It seemed impossible. Fluffy was always seen by somebody. Some were playing with him, some were complaining that he was there, some little girls were trying to catch him and give him kisses, and now nobody seemed to even know what Fluffy was.

When I didn't know where else I could look for Fluffy, I came back to my room and sat down. I didn't want to see Bianca. I didn't want to see Erica, or my dad, or anybody. In fact, I only wanted to see my cat, and he was gone. I felt alone and abandoned, and paranoid, thinking that Fluffy's cat's nature got the best of him, and he just wandered away, caring about freedom more than me. Maybe he didn't care about me at all.

The next day I still didn't feel ready to talk to my dad, but Erica told me over breakfast that he had been asking for me, and that I really should talk to him.

I got up, and went straight to the hospital, calling for Fluffy on my way. He was still nowhere to be found, though. I entered the room where my father was lying, and sat next to him on the bed.

"Hey, daddy," I said, kissing him on the forehead.

"Hello, Emilia," he answered. I decided not to pay attention to the fact that he called me by my formal name.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"I'm weak, but I'll be fine," he answered.

"That's good," I said, smiling.

"Emily, I have something to say," my dad said.

"Do you have to do it now?" I asked, fearing that this may be a serious talk.

"Yes, Emily. I don't want you to go to the prisoners anymore. They are all savages, and we need to put a stop to this."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean both Blase and Bianca are going to be executed."

"What?" I called. Dad was lying in a separate room, so I felt I could scream as much as I wanted to.

"Emily, there is no point in convincing me otherwise. The presidents made their decision. It was unanimous."

Even though he warned me that there was no point in asking, I begged him to change his mind. I talked about how it wasn't Bianca's fault, that she wanted it to go well, that she wanted peace as much as I wanted it. I told him it was all because of the beast, and that we did the same thing that they did, but he wasn't listening to me. He said they were the first ones to attack, and to be honest, at this point I didn't even remember who gave the first blow. I didn't think it mattered. Both of the sides freaked out, and as much as I realized there was no easy solution to any of this, I knew more violence was not the answer.

Nothing worked with my dad, though. He just kept saying all over again that the decision had been made and that there was nothing I could about it. He also warned me that my key card would stop working soon, if it didn't already, so there was no point in me trying to free Blase or Bianca in any way. Soon, the president will say publicly that all the instances of going outside of the bunker have to be reported and approved. Only a selected group of hunters, approved by the council, will be allowed to go out and hunt. There were also war plans being prepared, more intense than before.

There was nothing I could do.

So I left my dad on his hospital bed, and went straight to Bianca. My key card was still working, fortunately. The guards inside Bianca's room didn't want to let me through, saying that they had orders to keep the prisoners away from anybody, but I told him I just came to say good-bye, and that it will be my last time here. They looked at each other, and then one of them said that these people weren't worth saying good-bye to.

"Just get out of my way," I said, pushing the one that said that. The other one grabbed me by the left shoulder, hard. I could feel there was going to be a bruise the next day.

"Do you really want to hurt the president's daughter?" I asked him.

"I have orders…"

"And I have something to do, so if you don't let me go, I will file a formal complaint against you. And trust me, I will not hesitate to show that bruise that is forming right now."

The guard looked at me, then at his colleague, and let me go. I turned away and walked over to Bianca. I felt I didn't have too much time.

"Hey, girl," I said to her. I looked at her carefully, but I didn't see any new wounds.

"Hey," Bianca answered. "I heard it didn't go too well," she added. I was relieved that she knew.

"No, it didn't," I said. "I'm sorry."

"I don't think it's your fault."

I felt relieved that she didn't blame me. I didn't know what to say to her, though. I had to get her out of here, but the guards would never let me. I looked at Blase.

"What are you looking at?" he said to me. "I knew this wouldn't work. You should be happy you're alive."

I wondered how I was going to take them both out of here. I didn't like Blase, but it just didn't feel right to leave him.

"Emily," Bianca said. "We could go away, you know… if you helped me to get out of here, I could take you to Nadia."

"Nadia. Your friend also talked about her."

"Nadia will help us. She will take us in. She helps those that seek peace."

"I can't leave my dad or my friends," I said. "I can, however, try to help you get out," I added.

Bianca sighed.

"Are you sure? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"No," I shook my head. "I really am going to try to get you out of here. But I can't promise anything."

Bianca nodded her head. We were both whispering, and my face was very close to hers.

"I have to tell you something else, Em," she said. "Your cat… he's dead."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I heard the guards talking about it," Bianca explained. "They were happy he's gone, they didn't like him too much. So, one of your people just killed him while hunting. They are going to tell you it was an accident."

"I don't believe you," I said.

"Why would I lie to you about this?" Bianca asked.

"I don't know," I answered. I got up abruptly, and turned away. Bianca called after me, but I didn't stop. The guards came closer to the prisoners, so Bianca shut up, so they wouldn't hurt her. I used that moment to sneak out of the room without saying another word to any of them.

I didn't care that my dad was still weak and he needed to rest. He knew how much my cat meant to me. Maybe to him, maybe to everybody it was stupid and unnecessary and a waste of food or even air, but I loved Fluffy and I deserved to know the truth. So, I burst into his room, and stood over his bed.

"Where's Flully?" I asked.

"What?" my dad asked in a shaky voice.

"You heard me," I added. "Where is my cat?"

"Honey… you cat is dead."

"How?"

"He… he was…"

"Just tell me, what did you do with my cat?"

"The president ordered to kill him."

I didn't answer. I looked at my dad for a while, and then turned away and left the room. I could hear him scream after me, calling me to come back, and promising that he would explain, but I didn't listen. I didn't care for his explanation. I was done.

I decided I would get Bianca and go with her to Nadia, even if it kills me.

It hit me out of nowhere. It was dinnertime, the day I had decided to go to Nadia. The president got up and asked us not to leave our tables right after dinner, but to wait, because he had a surprise for us. I had a bad feeling about that surprise, but didn't say a word. The president's words actually made me stop thinking about what to take with me on my trip and how the hell I was going to go on with it, anyway.

I ate as fast as I had never before, as least not in the bunker, but it didn't help. I had to wait for the rest to finish their meals. I was sitting, tapping my right foot fast on the floor, and asking my dad, but he told me to keep quiet and wait for it. And finally, it happened. The president asked the guards to move their table, which was diagonally to us, and took a position with the microphone, standing in front of us, and watching everybody.

"Dear friends," he began. "As we all might have heard, we have two prisoners here with us in the bunker. They are the savage people that live outside. Some of us have tried talking to them to establish peace, but to no avail," I looked at my dad, but he was focused on the president, and pretended not to notice that I was looking at him. He wasn't quite well yet, but he was allowed to eat with us, instead of his hospital bed, because of a 'special occasion.'

"That is why, we are going to execute the prisoners that we have with us," the president continued. If that was the surprise, I already knew that, so I didn't care. But I was among the minority, for people around started whispering among themselves, and even shouting words of encouragement. I looked around them. Most were saying things like "Yes! Burn them" or „Hang them high" and laughing. I saw a few confused, and sad faces around me, but there were not many. I caught Peter's gaze – his eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. I shook my head, as if to say, "I don't agree," but then I realized he must have thought I was telling him not to react. I turned my eyes back on the president, who was now calling for order.

"I know that you are surprised, and maybe disappointed. But trust me, we have to start thinking of the rules by which we live here. The outsiders are our enemy. They deny us our rightful place on the ground! The prisoners denied helping us with learning about the outside world. One of them sent us to a trap, where some of our people were killed in a brutal manner. That is why we have to show them what we are doing with such people. We have to show them we will not be intimidated. We have guns, and technology, and powder to make more guns. We have medicine and things they have not dreamt of. Somehow the people outside reverted to medieval times, and they are killing without asking. We will stop this. And this starts now!"

At the last words Mrs. Watson, who was standing on the left of the president, a little to the back, waiting for her turn, walked over to the right table, and beyond it. There, she pushed some buttons, and right in the middle of the hall, where the president's tables were standing before, a hole opened in the floor. And from the ceiling a line started to go down. A big, thick line, tied at the end. It was a gallows knot.

They were going to hung the prisoners now, in front of all these people.

"No!" I screamed, before I had time to think about my reaction. I got up, though I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. Scott, though, caught me and held me tight in his arms.

"No," he whispered in my ear. "Stay. You can't stop it now."

I listened to him, still raging with fury. How could they be doing this right now, in front of all the people, in front of the children? Now, before I figured a plan to save Bianca.

Scott walked me back to my seat, and stayed by my side, in case I wanted to protest again. My dad leaned over to me and whispered to my ear "Don't disappoint me," and I gave in. Just like that. People around me were either talking among themselves, or looking at me or at the president with astonished glances. Erica held my hand reassuringly, and at least I knew we were still friends. She may not agree with me, but at least she forgave me. I held her hand back.

"Order!" the president finally called. "There will be order."

People were calming down slowly, and the president could continue.

"Anyone who opposes this, or is caught trying to help any of the enemies, will be considered a traitor, and put in confinement," the president said, looking at me. I heard my heart pumping. If Bianca was executed today, I would never forgive myself. And what's more, I would never be able to get to Nadia without Bianca's help, and getting to Nadia seemed my only hope now.

"Okay, without further ado, please sit quietly while we execute the first of the prisoners," the president said. _The first of them,_ I thought, _so there's still hope._

I felt bad for thinking that. If that was Blase, and not Bianca, there was no hope for him now, and though I didn't like him, I didn't wish him death.

Then the guards led him to us, from behind the presidents, from downstairs – there was another entrance to the lower levels, apparently, one I hadn't known about. The prisoner had a bag over his head, so at first I wasn't sure, but when they led him closer, I knew. It was Blase, not Bianca. I sighed with relief, but Scott touched my arm gently, warning me. I forced myself to sit still.

It was the most terrifying thing I had seen. It was worse than being shot by an arrow, being in the open-fire battle, or seeing the aftermath. The only thing I could compare it with was the feeling I vaguely had after I realized I had killed someone. I pushed that feeling away, though. There will be other times to deal with it. Now I was forced to watch as they were leading one man to a certain death by strangling. It was accompanied by screams of encouragement and clapping. Blase didn't come easily. He was fighting them and screaming, and making all sounds, from grunting to crying and moaning. He was just one man, though, and he was led by four guys from our guards. I recognized Cesar, one of the guards that were with Bianca and Blase every time I went there. I couldn't see the other one, tough.

At last they reached the gallows. They didn't ask Blase for any last words, or last meal, and they didn't tell him which crimes he was being punished for, as they sometimes did in the movies. Instead, they put a gallows know on him, while he was still trying to get out, and then, without any warning, or any preparation, they pushed him in the hole.

A lot of people got up and tried to get to the hole to see Blase, but I sat still, with Scott's hand on my shoulder, tightened now. Erica didn't move, either, but my dad got up and tried to stop the commotion. The guards pushed everybody back, and told us to sit by our tables. Those that didn't listen, got their backs hit warningly once or twice, until they got back in place. While the guards were leading Blase to the gallows, people were still and quiet, but after they pushed him, they started talking, screaming, moving, and asking questions. I still sat there. It must have been five minutes, give or take half an hour, when Scott took my hand, and asked me to get up. He practically dragged me, until I finally decided it was time to connect my mind to my body, and started moving on my own.

Scott led me to our room, and closed the doors behind us.

"Tell me you have a plan," he said. I didn't have time to answer, cause right then the door opened again.

"Whatever it is, you have to tell us," Milton said, entering the room, followed by Kazuo. Scott made a gesture that meant for them to close the door, which Kazuo did.

"So, what are we doing?" Scott asked me again. I hesitated for just only second. After all, I needed all the help I could get.

"We're getting Bianca out and going to Nadia," I said.


End file.
